Frances (1982)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Graeme Clifford

Writers:

Eric Bergren (writer)
Christopher De Vore (writer)

Release Date:

11 March 1983 (Australia)

Genre:

Biography | Drama

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. |

Plot Keywords:

Hollywood | Frances Farmer | Writer | Toilet | Escape From Mental Institution

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 1 win & 3 nominations

Cast

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

Runtime:

140 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Canada:14+ (Ontario) | Argentina:18 | Australia:M | Chile:18 | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R | West Germany:12 | Portugal:M/12 (DVD rating)

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Brooksfilms

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.

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.

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.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Saturday Night Live: Joan Rivers/Musical Youth (#8.17)" (1983)

Soundtrack:

Flow Gently, Sweet Afton (Afton Water)

A disturbing and gripping character study.

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.