Francine (2012)
Average Rating: 6.1/10
Reviews Counted: 20
Fresh: 12 | Rotten: 8
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 6.6/10
Critic Reviews: 12
Fresh: 9 | Rotten: 3
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 3/5
User Ratings: 197
My Rating
Movie Info
Academy Award winner Melissa Leo gives a fierce and restrained performance as Francine, a woman struggling to find her place in a downtrodden lakeside town after leaving behind a life in prison. Taking a series of jobs working with animals, Francine turns away others and instead seeks intimacy in the most unlikely of places. Gritty, elliptical, and voyeuristic, Francine is a portrait of a near-silent misfit and her fragile first steps in an unfamiliar world. -- (C) Official Site
Sep 12, 2012 Limited
Washington Square Films
- Official Site
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Cast
-
Melissa Leo
Francine -
Keith Leonard
Ned -
Victoria Charkut
Linda -
Dave Clark
Pet Store Manager -
Mike Halstead
Veterinarian -
Marietta Hanley
Prison Guard -
Brendan Burke
Prison Administrator -
Robert J. Meredith
Cab Driver -
Danica Brodehead
DMV Clerk -
Colin Mulholland
Customer with Hamster -
Snapring
Band -
Angelo Decelie
Band -
Shane Lake
Band -
Kevin Rhoades
Band -
Matthew Slater
Band -
Eric Willows
Band -
Karen Keefe
Customer with Bird -
Joey Hoeber
Older Man -
Barbara Forman
Pastor's Wife -
Alder Lakish
Pastor -
Brenda Roach
Nurse -
Deborah Scott
Receptionist -
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All Critics (20) | Top Critics (12) | Fresh (12) | Rotten (8)
While it's audacious on the part of the filmmakers (and of Leo) to keep Francine at arm's length from us, it makes the film a frustrating experience.
Top CriticFrancine portrays a woman on the socioeconomic margins and the sort of fiscal cliff that personalizes the phrase no politician can avoid these days.
Brian M. Cassidy and Melanie Shatzky, documentary makers trying their hand at drama, inspire a certain voyeuristic fascination toward the character but rarely sympathy.
Melissa Leo plays her without inflection, giving us no instructions about what our opinion should be. It is a brave performance, an act of empathy with a sad woman.
"Francine" is a small, detailed character study that never evolves into anything more.
What with the unexciting hand-held camerawork, and the off-putting script and lead performance, "Francine" remains as frustrating as its inscrutable title character.
Caught up in its own self-satisfied metaphor, its blank canvas and broadly sketched melancholic tones an empty vessel for those who would automatically turn the personal into the political.
Petered out the perhaps promise of a psychological study or horror flick, halfway through 'Francine' nothing is left.
Leo provides a seasoned, lived-in naturalism that is as rarely displayed on screen as it is potent.
Numbing, uninvolving portrait of an ex-con as an animal-loving zombie.
Francine is so minimalist that it has to rely almost entirely on Leo for solidity, and it would be a far stronger film if it supported and framed her more effectively.
In a character study of an ex-con who gives her heart and mind to animals rather than people, Melissa Leo's risky performance is ultimately framed with a disappointing, distanced pity.
Francine marks the start of a promising career for the filmmakers, more than anything else demonstrating their eye for small moments.
As a 74-minute snapshot of an American at the low end of the struggling 99%, it speaks far more eloquently than poverty statistics.
Audience Reviews for Francine
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This is a strong character piece and may seem slow to most movie goers, but as heartbreaking as the film is, it delivers and leaves you somewhat beside yourself to think about your own choices.