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BaftaBaby 
"Always entranced by cinema."
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 Posted - 12/08/2013 : 10:47:42
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Greta Gerwig does a lot of running as the eponymous Frances in this indie film she co-wrote with life-partner and director Noah Baumbach.
Unlike Lola she's not running to make a deadline, nor as the chaps in Chariots of Fire is she running to win ... Frances runs just for the sheer hell of it! For she is nearly the embodiment of that cliche the free spirit.
I say nearly because the more we learn about her the more we realise that behind the bonhomie, secreted beneath the smiles is a mature woman afraid to let go of the child within. If she embodies anything it's solipsism.
She even defines best friend Sophie as the same person but different faces.
Her relationship with Sophie is the thread that connects the main roads and side alleys of Frances' journey of self-discovery.
No big deal, and we've nearly seen it all before. I say nearly because we usually see this kind of late-blooming stuff about a man - think 40-year-old virgin type thing. And not usually about someone in the arts, or art-aspirant.
She's a dancer who doesn't dance. Who wants to dance. But she doesn't. She almost does. But she doesn't.
I dunno - it's a sweet little film and it runs here and there as Frances does. It's punctuated by some title cards of the various addresses she inhabits along the way. And I'm guessing it's in black and white more for budget reasons than anything semiotic.
I mean they saved a few actors' big bucks by having Gerwig's real parents play her screen parents. So, yeah, it's all quite personal.
Gerwig is charming, likeable, and refreshing in her lack of glamour. Mickey Sumner [daughter of the more famous Sting] matches her onscreen naturalism.
But Frances is never truly tested, which I guess is the point. Well, about these folks anyway. Whatever life throws at her, it's not just her eternal optimism that sees her through, it's the kindness of friends, and family, and even just acquaintances. Which feels too comfy to me.
I kept thinking of Mike Leigh's Happy-Go-Lucky - a far more accomplished film in every way.
Partners can certainly come up with delicious scripts - Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin to name but two - and even they stopped collaborating for the sake of the marriage.
Baumbach and Gerwig take note!
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Frances Ha
