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 | |
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James Brodhead | ... | Desk Sergeant |
Jane Jenkins | ... | Lady at Roosevelt Hotel (as J.J. Chaback) | |
Jordan Charney | ... | Harold Clurman | |
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Rod Colbin | ... | Sentencing Judge |
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Daniel Chodos | ... | 'No Escape' director |
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Donald Craig | ... | Ralph Edwards |
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Sarah Cunningham | ... | Alma Styles |
Lee de Broux | ... | 'Flowing Gold' Director | |
Jeffrey DeMunn | ... | Clifford Odets |
Frances Farmer, a precocious Seattle teenager, takes unpopular social and political positions, to the mixed reactions of her parents. Frances becomes an actress and has some strong success in New York, but her refusal to bend her convictions and her outspoken (but sometimes naive) political expressiveness cause her difficulties, especially after she accepts a Hollywood contract. Torn between new-found success and intense feelings that she does not deserve the riches and fame she gains from the phoniness of Hollywood, Frances butts heads with studio executives and with her own mother, who revels in Frances's fame but provides Frances no emotional support. When drunken fights and arrests derail her career, Frances is sent to a psychiatric hospital with the acquiescence of her mother. What follows is a nightmare of poor treatment and psychological trauma, augmented by the increasing determination of Frances's mother to control her daughter's life. Written by Jim Beaver <jumblejim@prodigy.net>
The spectacular 8 hour limited series "Feud" made me revisit many of Jessica Lange's movies. Her performance is of such perfection that it reminded me how extraordinary she has always been. "Frances" is a shock to the system, unflinchingly so. The beautiful, sad, Francs Farmer in all its contradictions. Jessica Lange is absolutely mesmerizing. The movie suffers from what most biopics suffer from, A chronological succession of events and in the case of Frances Farmer, from bad the worse to much, much worse. The movie will drain you but the performance will keep you alert, alive, transfixed. There is more, Kim Stanley as Frances mother. An acting giant with very few film credits to her name. That alone makes "Frances" a collector's item.