It should honestly be illegal to be as talented as Greta Gerwig is. Both Lady Bird and Little Women received Best Picture Oscar nominations. She received a best directing nod for Lady Bird and writing nominations for both films — She should have been nominated for best director over Todd Phillips in 2019, but I digress. Oh, and by the way, that doesn’t even mention her award-winning acting history. She has won smaller awards for her acting in 20th Century Women, Damsels in Distress, and Mistress America. She received award nominations for Greenberg, Jackie, and Frances Ha. It is her outstanding performance in Frances Ha that I want to focus on today.
I believe how much you like Frances Ha directly correlates with how much you like Greta Gerwig. I own a Gerwig shirt and had this wonderful photoshop done, so there is no disputing my affection for her. There is not a single scene in the entire film that does not feature Frances, so the burden is really on Gerwig to carry the film. I believe her bubbling charisma oozes through the screen, and I can’t imagine any other actress in the role. She is built perfectly for the mumblecore movement, where she can be her awkward, goofy self.
Co-written by Gerwig and her now partner, Noah Baumbach, Frances Ha follows the life of 27-year-old Frances Halladay, an aspiring dancer, as she navigates the next chapter of her life in New York. For those that haven’t watched the movie (stop reading this and watch the movie), the basic plot summary is that her best friend and roommate, Sophie, played by Mickey Sumner, moves out to eventually live with her boyfriend Patch. Frances ends up living with two bachelors, Lev, played by Adam Driver, and Benji, played by Michael Zegen.
Shenanigans, and some outstanding throwaway jokes, occur in their apartment. A quick diversion to some of my favorite lines in the apartment
“This makes me feel like a bad mother in 1987” — Frances after smoking a cigarette inside.
“You know what Virginia Woolf book this reminds me of?” — to which Benji responds with his common retort of calling Frances undateable.
“I kind of have a crush on this boy, but his name is Georgie, so I don’t know how far it’s going to go.”
So many incredible and quippy lines in the apartment. It is very reminiscent of what would come in the first 45 minutes or so in Mistress America, another Gerwig and Baumbach movie, from 2015.
After her time in the apartment, Frances has a dance performance where she is informed afterward that she won’t be of use for the Christmas show that she was banking on for a significant sum of money. Sophie and Patch are there, and they meet up for drinks afterward. Frances, already having a rough night, takes multiple vodka shots, orders their most expensive bottle, sticks Patch with the bill, and then goes to the bathroom with Sophie.
The scene of the two of them fighting in the bathroom is incredible. Gerwig wrote a behind the scenes piece on it in the New York Times. It is such a sharp departure from the happy, low-stakes nature of the rest of the film, but it is one of the most memorable scenes to me. I still think about that “Do not treat me like a three-hour brunch friend” line all the time.
We quickly get back to the feel-good vibes when Frances visits her family in Sacramento for Christmas. I’m sure when this movie was released in 2013, the Sacramento montage was just like any other holiday montage, but watching it now, it is so much more. First off, Gerwig’s actual parents play her parents in the film, which is just so sweet. Another neat casting thing is that four people with the last name Salem are credited as Christmas guests on IMDb. This film is each of their only acting credit on IMDb, so it feels like a safe bet that they are also Sacramento natives who know Gerwig in real life. The whole Sacramento sequence feels so natural and joyful because of how real it actually is.
I am so here for all the Sacramento shots as a precursor to Lady Bird. The religious service and Frances and her mom looking at clothes together feel like I am watching an alternate version of Lady Bird. There are theories out there that Frances Ha, Mistress America, and Lady Bird all follow the same protagonist, but in reverse chronological order. I plan to write more about those two movies in-depth at some point, so I will save that discussion for later, but you can read more about those theories in the meantime.
Also, final point on the Sacramento sequence, please cast this dog in every Greta Gerwig movie from now on, please.
After Frances returns from California, we get maybe my favorite scene I’ve ever seen in any movie. That is saying a lot, but the dinner scene is just pure perfection from start to finish. It is so cringy and awkward, and I love it. Throughout the film, I think Greta is the best choice for the role, but this scene, in particular, would fall apart with any other actress. I watched this for the first time a few months after I graduated and was struggling to find work in the field that I was searching for, so when Frances was asked what she does and responded with “it’s kind of hard to explain”.... “Because I don’t really do it.” it connected so hard to what I was feeling at the moment, and still feel to some extent. To go from that scene to the moment that Frances learns from other dinner guests that Sophie quit her job and is moving to Japan with Patch is just heartbreaking. Seeing how close they were at the beginning of the movie to now being left in the dark like that is just brutal.
Going from her learning about the Sophie news immediately into my favorite monologue I’ve ever seen is just * chef’s kiss*. It is so tender, and it feels like it fits so perfectly in a movie that feels oddly romantic without a clear romantic interest. It encapsulates everything I love about this film. It is a story of Frances finding herself and just looking for that connection with the world. The music coming in when it does is just perfect. To go from that heartfelt of a moment to the “I sound stoned, I’m not stoned” line and abruptly saying goodbye and leaving is the exact right amount of humor for such a beautiful moment. It still makes me tear up when rewatching it. I would say this scene alone makes Frances Ha my favorite Gerwig or Baumbach movie. I love it so much.
My knowledge of foreign cinema is not nearly to the level I want it to be, so, unfortunately, one of the first things that pops into my head when someone mentions french films is the Paris sequence in this film — also Portrait of a Lady on Fire. The phone call with Sophie is tough to watch and makes you feel for Frances. To go from her telling Sophie, “I am really good” to almost immediately going to the theater to ask, “when did Puss in Boots start?” is just incredible comedic timing. It is the “did” that is doing the heavy lifting there. In the original script, it is X-men instead, and I am so glad it got changed.
After her super relatable scene with both her parents talking into the phone simultaneously, Frances becomes an RA at her old college, Barnard, further extending the Greta Gerwig cinematic universe with the Mistress America connection. Imagine crying in your dorm hallway, and Greta Gerwig sits down next to you to just emotionally be there for you. I would die.
To go along with the RA gig, Frances is a caterer where she is pouring wine for a reception for a congresswoman. She overhears a couple arguing and peers around to see Sophie and Patch back in town for Patch’s grandfather’s funeral. The two catch up, and later in the night, Sophie knocks on Frances’s dorm room, and the two have a moment very reminiscent of their friendship at the beginning of the film. Sophie reveals she had a miscarriage in Japan, and she wants to leave Patch and move back to New York.
The two share a real moment where Frances reveals her biggest problem with Patch is “if something funny happens on the way to the deli, you’ll only tell one person, and that will be Patch. And I’ll never hear about it.” It is clearly something that Frances has been thinking about for a while, and it seems like she is relieved she finally told Sophie. Unfortunately, as we learn the next morning, Sophie was too drunk and doesn’t remember it. She leaves a note for Frances telling her to call her.
It cuts to Frances working as a secretary at her old dance company, something she initially pushed back on before going to Barnard. If I have one complaint about the entire film, I feel like this moment happens too quickly with not enough explanation. She is choreographing once again. Sophie and Patch are there. As is Lev and Benji, and her ex-boyfriend Dan from the beginning of the film. They are all there to see what Frances created. Frances sees Benji afterward, and it is heavily implied that the two of them are about to no longer be undateable.
Frances is talking to Colleen about the performance when she spots Sophie from across the room. The two share a moment — almost like seeing a different sort of dimension that exists all around us. It is a beautiful moment. I had a friend ask me what I think happens to their friendship after the credits roll, and I think this moment shows that they are at least on their way to being what they were in the beginning. I think Sophie and Patch live their lives together — oh yeah, they are married now — but I think the speech Frances gave earlier shows that she will be open with Sophie. The two will remain in each other’s lives in some capacity, at least that is my optimistic view on the situation.
The film ends with Frances writing her name; this is where we learn that it is actually Halladay, on a piece of paper and cutting it out to put in her mail slot. She has to fold the paper because it is too large, and the credits roll over "Frances Ha" as she goes to live this new chapter in her life. It is symbolic that now that she has her name in her own apartment, she is now a real person, something she admittedly struggled with earlier.
It is sort of ironic that her full name doesn't fit in the slot. There are a few ways to interpret it; my favorite is that the way Frances lives life means that she will never fully be an adult. She will go to her job and be professional when needed, but at the end of the day, this is still the same woman seen running and dancing so gleefully through the streets of New York with David Bowie playing underneath. She is going to continue being every bit of Frances Ha. She is going to live exactly how every main character in a Greta Gerwig movie lives life, with relentless optimism and finding joy when it might seem difficult. We should all aspire to live life like we are in a Greta Gerwig film.
Next week I am going to look at Palm Springs starring Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti. You can watch that on Hulu.