IMDb > Frances (1982)
Frances
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Frances (1982) -- MyMovieScripts.com - Trailer (Flash)

Overview

User Rating:
7.3/10   2,460 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 2% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Graeme Clifford
Writers:
Eric Bergren (writer)
Christopher De Vore (writer)
more
Contact:
View company contact information for Frances on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
11 March 1983 (Australia) more
Genre:
Biography | Drama more
Tagline:
Her story is shocking, disturbing, compelling... and true.
Plot:
The true story of Frances Farmer's meteoric rise to fame in Hollywood and the tragic turn her life took when she was blacklisted. | add synopsis
Awards:
Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 1 win & 3 nominations more
NewsDesk:
(7 articles)
Broadway Actor Manning Dies
 (From WENN. 20 September 2009, 4:01 PM, PDT)

Three Membership First Candidates Elected to AFTRA Boards
 (From Digital Media Law. 3 June 2009, 11:37 PM, PDT)

User Comments:
A disturbing and gripping character study. more (41 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Jessica Lange ... Frances Farmer

Kim Stanley ... Lillian Farmer

Sam Shepard ... Harry York
Bart Burns ... Ernest Farmer
Jonathan Banks ... Hitchhiker
Bonnie Bartlett ... Studio Stylist
James Brodhead ... Desk Sergeant
Jane Jenkins ... Lady at Roosevelt Hotel (as J.J. Chaback)
Jordan Charney ... Harold Clurman
Rod Colbin ... Sentencing Judge
Daniel Chodos ... 'No Escape' director
Donald Craig ... Ralph Edwards
Sarah Cunningham ... Alma Styles

Lee de Broux ... 'Flowing Gold' Director
Jeffrey DeMunn ... Clifford Odets
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Create a character page for: ?

Additional Details

Runtime:
140 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Color:
Color (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Dolby
Company:
Brooksfilms more

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Scenes which made more sense of Farmer's breakdown and her relationship with her mother were dropped in favor of keeping the romance with Harry York intact. more
Goofs:
Boom mic visible: When Frances is at the party and is warned that she's being "bugged" by the Feds, a boom mic is clearly visible over her head. more
Quotes:
Lillian Farmer: When you get well, you're going to thank me.
Frances Farmer: No, you are not talking now! You listen. Now you can send me away and pretend I'm crazy and you can pretend I'm still your little girl who can't take care of herself. But Lillian, there is one thing that you cannot pretend any more and that is that I love you. Because I don't. I can't. Not after what you've done to me. Because I am still me. I've been trying real hard all this time to be me. And you, little sister - you haven't been any help at all.
more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in "Saturday Night Live: Joan Rivers/Musical Youth (#8.17)" (1983) more
Soundtrack:
Flow Gently, Sweet Afton (Afton Water) more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
7 out of 10 people found the following comment useful.
A disturbing and gripping character study., 6 December 1998
10/10
Author: Johnnee from Ottawa, ON, Canada

When you see a glamorous movie star on the silver screen, you immediately picture them having a glamorous life with no flaws or problems whatsoever. The film "Frances" proves that that is definitely not true.

Jessica Lange is excellent as Frances Farmer, the movie star from the 1930s who constantly wants to live life her own way. She becomes a big star until all the weight of being a star (publicity, bossy agents, the media) falls down hard on her, causing her to have a nervous breakdown. Eventually, she is wrongfully declared criminally insane and thrown into a mental institution.

The movie is glitzy and glamourous at one point, and turns disturbing and realistically gritty at the next. Lange gives her best performance here, which was nominated for an Oscar. In the end we realize that she wasn't crazy, she was just trying to be herself. It makes the viewer sympathize with movie stars, for the stuff they have to be put through. A fascinating movie.

Was the above comment useful to you?
more (41 total)

Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Frances (1982)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
Frances' soundtrack re-released! york74
Notes on FRANCES JSlack3
She didnt have what they wanted abelposadas
The Making of 'Frances' - article york74
Was Anjelica Huston in Frances? blm566
Flowing Gold Grandmajan62-1
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