Review of Frances Ha (2013) by Michal P — 31 Jul 2013

Indie goddess Greta Gerwig may have the sort of bearing that leads otherwise sensible men to long to brush a stray lock of hair away from her perfect, perfect eyebrows, but aside from that she also boasts a usually impeccable taste in scripts.

This one she co-wrote with director Noah Baumbach (who wrote the Fantastic Mr Fox screenplay, and The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou), and it manages to portray a convincing slice of Brooklyn twenty-something apartment-hopping life without peppering in a slew of irritating hipsterisms.

These slightly callow but oh-so-worldly city folk move through the itinerant life of would-be dancer Frances (Gerwig), particularly her wry best friend, Sophie. Frances Ha is loosely about the enduring nature of female friendship, the quest for meaning when you haven't found your calling in life, and the transience of youthful relationships.

(It's no coincidence that one of the two well-known songs licensed for the film is Bowie's 'Modern Love'). Perhaps this sounds dire to you, but in these capable hands Frances Ha is a charming and surprisingly engrossing comic character study with unexpected emotional heft.

Stumbling from career setbacks to middle-class poverty to embarrassing 'grown-up' dinner party rambling, any-port-in-a-storm dead-end jobs, catastrophically ill-advised credit card splurges, and finally telling your friend's boyfriend what you REALLY think about him, Frances Ha packs a lot in.

Perhaps my favourite line is when a self-possessed young fellow texts a newly-single Frances with 'Ahoy, sexy!' and Frances enquires of her girlfriend: 'What, now I'm nautically sensual?' Throughout, Baumbach's glowing black and white cinematography shines.