Culture

Rating: 3.5/5

An endearing and fresh take on the messy lives of twenty-somethings, Frances Ha is equal parts Woody Allen and Lena Dunham, taking a neurotic central character and using her to charming effect. A star-making performance from Greta Gerwig in the title role ensures that Frances never delves into the manic pixie dream girl stereotype, and we are instead offered a proper character study of this flawed and fascinating figure.

As a contemporary dancer struggling to make ends meet in Manhattan, Frances experiences trials and tribulations that wouldn’t seem out of place in a Girls episode. However, the many funny moments, Gerwig’s seamless performance and the black-and-white cinematography that illuminates unseen aspects of New York elevate the film’s TV-appropriate subject matter into something far greater.

In navigating Frances’ nomadic experiences as she moves from one cheap apartment to another, Baumbach’s film depicts twenty-something friendships in a fashion that rings true and is oddly rare on the big screen – or anywhere for that matter. The pithy, sarcastic exchanges between Frances and her best friend are handled naturally, as is her surprise at discovering how insincere friendships can be at that age.

Similarly, Frances Ha adopts a realistic approach towards the poverty of young adult life, and is careful neither to glamorise nor romanticise the experience. Instead, it conveys how limiting it can be for our heroine. For a film to explore how issues of class and wealth seep into our relationships from this young age is refreshing. Nonetheless, the film provides something of a litmus test for the viewers in terms of tolerance for neurotic characters: during one of Frances’ especially cringe monologues, the couple behind me walked out of the film.

Frances is muddled and frustrating, but ultimately sympathetic – and while the film is at times excruciatingly awkward to watch, therein lies part of its success. Although the film isn’t aggressively quirky, certain scenes err on this side, and Baumbach’s attempts at catering to his hipster audience are transparent. Frances’ habit of dancing to catch her bus, or playfighting with her friends in the park, come across not as the actions of an emotionally stunted 27-year-old, but rather of someone who is intellectually damaged.

While Frances Ha is unlikely to appeal to those who find the average Girls episode beyond their realm of comprehension, for the target audience it’s a charming, funny and intelligent effort.