On F List of Movie Reviews
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Frances (1982)
Rate:
7
Viewed:
6/25
6/25:
Compelling stuff, is it?
Unfortunately, Frances is fictional for the most part. I had never heard of Frances Farmer before. The
lobotomy that Jessica Lange's character received is 100% untrue. If the icepick procedure was really done, her
personality would be forever altered by turning into a zombie. There's no Harry York, either, which is a strange
choice, mirroring Evita with Madonna and Antonio Banderas.
So, what happened? If I had to guess, Frances Farmer was a chronic alcoholic with a possible drug abuse issue.
All of her problems stemmed from drinking too much. She was eventually diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic,
not from "mommy did this to me" stuff. As a matter of fact, Frances Farmer kept wanting to go back to Hollywood, but
her family insisted she quit the show business for good because it was tearing her down. Overall,
the filmmakers based the story on Frances Farmer's autobiography and a biography authored by a movie critic,
but both had been totally discredited.
Hence, there's no reason to feel bad about Frances Farmer. She had a series of thespic breaks by doing a film
for Howard Hawks; working alongside Bing Crosby, John Garfield, Cary Grant, Fred MacMurray, Ray Milland, and
Tyrone Power; and appearing as the main star of Clifford Odets' play called Golden Boy which
ran for 248 performances. The playwright was married to Luise Rainer at the time and had this to say about
Frances Farmer: "Unhappy, stiff, rude and uncontrollable girl, but with a real purity."
Regardless of the made-up content, the movie isn't bad. Yes, it starts off heavy with too much writing but
settles down by letting the acting take over. As a result, Jessica Lange gives a strong performance that shows
the kind of actress she's destined to become. The biggest negative is the vague storytelling. A
lot of things don't connect very well which caused me to doubt the biography in the first place. The other is
the purposeless presence of Sam Shepard as Harry York.
All in all, it's easy to rip Frances apart for telling a pack of lies, but Jessica Lange shines through.