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Frances

Her Story Is Shocking, Disturbing, Compelling...And True.

Jessica Lange delivers the performance of her career as Frances Farmer, the notorious 1930's movie star whose impassioned opinions and outspoken behavior created scandal throughout the industry. But when she was betrayed by the studio system and committed to an insane asylum by her domineering mother, Frances descended into a madness that revealed the most horrific abuses of mental illness and exposed the cruelest consequences of Hollywood fame.

Kim Stanley and Sam Shepherd co-star in this tragic true story that shocked the world. Frances is now presented in a stunning new transfer from original film materials and is packed with startling new bonus features exclusive to this edition.

Critiques des membres

Great performances... but why couldn't it be a better movie? - sweeneysblade

The film fails. Utterly, miserably fails.

I feel like they dug up Frances' grave and pissed all over her. This film is borderline incompetent. The editing is questionable as the film is too long and too slow. Often two person scenes are brutally chopped up so that the tension is either diminished or the action lost. There are far too many establishing shots and lazy voice-over from a character that couldn't know 90% of this story as he wanders in and out of Frances' life (at her request). It feels like the creators of the film never decided whose story to tell - Frances's, Harry's, her mother's - and waffle in between instead. There were a few times when we laughed at the idiotic cuts in the movie. Instead of making us really feel anything for Frances, I was mostly bored by the movie. Deliberate choices were made to distance the audience from the characters and the action, like filming a crucial argument between Frances and her mother in close-ups... but always with the back of the other person's head in between the camera and the speaking actress. The film never probes why Hollywood treated her the way they did (one scene touches on it in Beebe's office but it is so passive that it barely registers). The film never lets us into her childhood or family life until after the breakdown. The film doesn't question why she made the comments she did or acted out the way Farmer did; instead this is a very cut-and-dry portrayal. It might read alright as a biography but it doesn't have any dramatic impact.

On the positive side, I learned a bit more about a misunderstood and abused actress. And watched a beautiful Jessica Lange imitate her own Oscar-winning performance in another film from that year (Tootsie). Stanley is a wonder as an actress... but unfortunately this role is banal and pales in comparision to either of Piper Laurie's 1980s Oscar-nominated mothers (Children of a Lesser God or Carrie).

Wrong running time: 140 min

Amazing Performance, But Highly Sensationalized - BloodMoonGrrrl

Jessica Lange's performance as Frances Farmer was absolutely stunning. However, this film took so many liberties and sought to sensationalize the life of Farmer that I was left wondering why the producers would do that. From the friendship/romance with a small time gangster to the labotomy scene, to getting her husband's name wrong (seriously, Dwayne instead of Leif?), this film contains so much fictionalized content it really does a disservice to Farmer's memory.

Electrifying Lange - Film_Prophet1

Watching this film it makes me wonder: Why didn't Jessica Lange get the oscar for best actress? You have rarely seen an actress put so much into a role than she did playing an independant actress who fights the producers, the media, even herself for independence.

In an interview, Jessica Lange said that she acted in "Tootsie" because her role in "Frances" really worn her out emotionally and wanted a lighter role. Watching this, you can see why. Here she is really giving it her all going from beating up an insulting hairdresser to hiding in a bathroom as police and paparazzis gang up on her to taking electroshock therapy. Even in her quiet tone, she is still fighting, exposing a host as the woman who previously cursed her to hell. Of course the role of a woman oppresed by a studio and betrayed by her mother requires it.

Of course after a while watching Frances' battle, you seems that Frances is going mad. You wish that she would stop what she's doing. You never know if everyone is out to get her or she is getting paranoid?

There are a few flaws with the movie. Like "There Will Be Blood", the lead star makes such an unforgettable performance that the other actors pale in comparison. And what is the point of Sam Shepard's character. He just comes in and out for plot convience.

Kim Stanley comes close to reaching Lange's level as Frances' mother. Kim goes from teaching teaching Frances independence to embracing fame to looking concerned about Frances health. But when she send Frances to a mental institution she seems afraid for Frances. But after watching her leach of Frances fame, you are asking many questions about her.

Critiques des membres Lire tous...

Great performances... but why couldn't it be a better movie? - sweeneysblade

Amazing Performance, But Highly Sensationalized - BloodMoonGrrrl

Electrifying Lange - Film_Prophet1

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Frances

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