Directed by Noah Baumbach, who also co-wrote Frances Ha with Greta Gerwig, this is an excellent 2012 comedy drama. It’s about a 27-year-old dancer living in New York (played by Greta Gerwig) as her life struggles to take off.
As real life kicks in and the joys of youthful carefree freedom begin to fade, she battles with departing friends and career struggles. All to the tune of bittersweet comedic moments and other nuances.
Oh My Gawd, it’s Your 20s in Frances Ha
Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig are geniuses in the mumblecore film genre. If you think of modernised versions of Woody Allen films such as Annie Hall (1977) you’re getting there.
Baumbach films such as Marriage Story (2019) and Gerwig’s directorial debut Lady Bird (2017) deal with common life issues, with a big emphasis on naturalistic acting.
Frances Ha was a breakout moment for Greta Gerwig. She got a Golden Globe Nomination for this role, where she plays bumbling apprentice dancer Frances Halladay.
Whilst trying to get her dancing career started in New York, Frances goes about standard stuff such as dating troubles and the like.
She’s extremely close with her best friend and flatmate Sophie Levee (Mickey Sumner, who is the eldest daughter of musician Sting), the pair of them sparring off each other very well as they enjoy life together.
“Ahoy sexy!” becomes a running in-joke across the film, with the men in their lives acting as a strange psychological barrier. There’s Lev, for example, played by Adam Driver (who’s since gone on to become a big Hollywood star in Star Wars and also Baumbach’s Marriage Story).
But much of the drama begins when Sophie falls in love with a guy called Patch (Patrick Heusinger) and gets engaged, before then moving to Tokyo.
This startles Frances and destroys here sense of stability. It’s the moment in life when things begin diverging and the life you may be happy with starts to change, not least as friends/family get married and have kids.
But Frances Ha also catches very well the sense of fun you have in your 20s, the carefree way people are. Before the mind-numbing cynicism and/or life commitments start kicking in.
Much of Frances Ha is, arguably, about her desire to stay in this happy state for as long as she can, whilst her friends are busy moving on. This forcing her into isolation she struggles to deal with.
The narrative shows Frances starting to accept some need for change. She realises becoming a famous dancer only works out for a handful of people, so takes up a dance choreography role to pay the bills.
She also starts dating a nice guy called Benji (Michael Zegen), having previously been somewhat oblivious to his interest in her.
But… she does keep clinging to the belief Sophie is her best friend. Despite the various trials and tribulations the pair have across the film, with it seemingly inevitable the pair are set to drift apart.
An excellent slice of life, then, and a fine representation of your 20s. The many things that go wrong, a few things that go right, and all played out by a brilliant cast that’s since gone on to some great things.
Especially, unlike the character she plays, Greta Gerwig. She did get her lucky break and has since written and directed the likes of the satire Barbie (2023).
Better still, whilst filming Frances Ha she and director Noah Baumbach fell head over heels and later got married in December 2023. They now have two kids, too. Ahoy sexy indeed.
The Production of Frances Ha
The film had a $3 million budget and went on to make $11.3 million, marketed as it was as Greta Gerwig’s arrival as a major new talent. This led some to snub the film, including UK film critics James King and Peter Bradshaw, who were a bit snotty about it.
They dismissed it as not funny enough and too Hipster. Back in 2012, the whole “hipster” was getting a bit annoying (skinny jeans, stupid big beards, a sense of vintage whimsy), but we think the film doesn’t wallow in any of that too much. It’s just a sweet-natured film with some good life lessons.
And most of the contemporary critical feedback was very positive.
Unsurprisingly, Woody Allen’s 1977 classic Annie Hall was a big influence for Gerwig and Baumbach, alongside French New Wave cinema (the reason why Frances Ha is in black and white) and Joseph Conrad’s novella The Shadow-Line (1916).
Baumbach used 50mm prime lens and 70-200mm zoom lens cameras for the shoot, smaller cameras that saved on budget and allowed cast and crew to zip around at faster speeds. Much of the film was shot in New York, but the crew also went out to Paris, where the limited set needs allowed them to slink around unnoticed.
Oh yes, and Gerwig does a fair bit of ballet dancing in the film.
When she was younger at school, she took dance and competitive fencing lessons. She’d planned to go to uni for musical theatre in New York, but wound up doing English and Philosophy instead. But the earlier life stuff is why she’s able to dance so well in Frances Ha. Just so you know! 💃
