Frances Ha (2012)

I've only seen a couple of Noah Baumbach's movies, and the same applies for Greta Gerwig, and I always loved what I saw which is why Frances Ha seemed like an obvious choice to me. It's directed by Baumbach, it stars Gerwing and its written by both. I was supposed to love it but I didn't. 

Frances (Greta Gerwig) is a 27-year-old apprentice for a dance company, but she's not really a dancer as she doesn't really commit herself. She lives in New York with her best friend Sophie (Mickey Summer), in an apartment that isn't really hers. She has a boyfriend (Michael Esper) which she dumps when he asks her to move in with him because she still wants to live with Sophie. Unfortunately, Sophie moves in with her boyfriend (Patrick Heusinger), and Frances is forced to grow up. 

At this point, I was expecting a story of an interesting person with existential dilemmas (the typical, who am I, how do the people I surround myself with define me, and stuff like that). What I got instead was something like an old Woody Allen movie that quite never takes off. In other words, a dull movie.

IFC Films

The script is actually pretty good. It's got some interesting dynamics, the dialogue is excellent and it makes you think about what it means to grow up and to be self-reliant. However, the leading character is terrible. Frances is one of the most annoying, obnoxious and self-absorbed leads I've seen (in a while). She is one of those people you meet but forget about because they lack personality. She is very unsympathetic, and her continuous failing at life made me want to give up on the film. And my life. And where was the drama? The conflict? I saw none of that. She was just flat and boring. The poor writing also reflects on Greta Gerwig's performance. She is usually charming and fun, but this time she was just boring, like the rest of the film.

Thank goodness there was the cinematography to make this film a bit more bearable. I don't know if it was supposed to be a homage to Woody Allen's Manhattan, but I absolutely loved the black and white cinematography. And the use of lighting is perfect in some scenes. There's one at the end where two people are talking in bed that is gorgeous. I'm not sure, however, that it was the right choice. The lack of colour kind of made Frances Ha even more lifeless.