Starring Greta Gerwig, Mickey Sumner
Directed by Noah Baumbach
I like things that look like mistakes, Frances (Greta Gerwig) confesses at the tail end of the film that bears her name. And, by this point, a viewer can completely understand the fondness she feels for blunders. After all, we've witnessed her make what seems like a lifetime's worth in the preceding 80-odd minutes.
Curbing the caustic tendencies that have informed his work since his breakout film The Squid and the Whale, director Noah Baumbach (who cowrote this feature with Gerwig) delivers a far more affectionate and exuberant take on social ineptness. While shot in striking black-and-white and heavily influenced by the French New Wave, Frances Ha feels wholly of its time and instantly relatable to anyone who's ever fumbled their way through their mid-20s. Broken up into chapters named after the transient Frances' various addresses, the script is loaded with wickedly funny dialogue, awkward exchanges, and endearing details about living hand to mouth, whether it's the ecstasy of an unexpected tax return or the agony of a $3 ATM charge.
Beginning as a platonic love story about Frances and her roommate Sophie (Mickey Sumner), the film grows more concerned with navigating the dead-ends and cul-de-sacs that mark the road to self-discovery. Shot guerrilla-style in New York City (with brief detours to Sacramento and Paris), it boasts an intoxicating energy and very much seems the work of a filmmaker reinvigorated by exploring new ways of practising his craft. In a just world, Frances Ha would launch the beguiling Gerwig into stardom. Alas, as this bittersweet tale illustrates, things dont always work out exactly as they should.
