Frances

Cast & Crew

Jessica Lange

Frances Farmer

Kim Stanley

Lillian Farmer

Sam Shepard

Harry York

Bart Burns

Ernest Farmer

Jonathan Banks

Hitchhiker

Bonnie Bartlett

Studio Stylist

James Brodhead

Desk Sergeant

J.J. Chaback

Lady at Roosevelt Hotel

Jordan Charney

Harold Clurman

Donald Craig

Ralph Edwards

Sarah Cunningham

Alma Styles

Lee de Broux

"Flowing Gold" Director

Jeffrey DeMunn

Clifford Odets

Anne Haney

Hairdresser

James Karen

Judge Hillier

Darrell Larson

Louella's Spy

Vincent Lucchesi

Arresting Sergeant

Gerald S. O'Loughlin

Lobotomy Doctor

Woodrow Parfrey

Dr. Doyle

Lane Smith

Dr. Symington

Graeme Clifford

Director

Jonathan Sanger

Producer

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Critic Reviews for Frances

Audience Reviews for Frances

• Aug 28, 2013

  Jessica Lange is really terrific as Frances Farmer. Hers is a story that I was not familiar with and was glad to have known about it afterwards. A true rebel with heart.
  

  Super Reviewer
• Oct 08, 2012

  A beautiful actress with a rebellious streak is plagued by perceived mental illness. Jessica Lange, who received a well-deserved Oscar nomination for this role, delivers a gut-wrenching performance in the title role. Her free-spirited portrayal of healthy Frances is tempered by the film's plot, which puts her through the barbarity that we once called medicine in mental health. Sam Shepard is also quite strong as one of Frances's few supporting friends. It may be that the film can't fashion a believable narrative out of the facts, but the idea that Frances would go back to her mother after many of the events the film depicts defies all we know about the character, and her meager excuse that "She's still my mother" in the words of Rocky the Flying Squirrel "Just doesn't wash." Overall, regardless of its plot-related flaws, you should see this film if only for Lange who plumbs emotional depths to produce a tragically wounded character.
  

  Super Reviewer
• Aug 08, 2010

  The film starts as a standard biopic, charting the success of actress Frances Farmer in all her mundane glory. There are scenes of her atheism, lack of fear towards becoming a social outcast when she journeys to Communist Russia, and a very quick rise to prominence at a major studio. These are the trivial aspects to the rebellious Farmer, not wanting to be labeled a Hollywood starlet, but instead a Broadway actress, even starring in a play while staying out of the press' spotlight. It's when she becomes blacklisted by her former Hollywood studio and forced to leave the stage for low budget B-movies that Farmer cracks, leading to arrests on the charge of assault and battery, trying to force the men keeping her from doing what she wants to look at her as outspoken. Still, Farmer's antics become outrageous and erratic, screaming at police officers, psychiatrists, and her own mother. Her exploits are spread across the papers, and her only recourse seems to be more screaming and physical violence towards everyone around her. In these instances there is an element of over the top Hollywood spin on the film, to create more drama. The thing that makes this film amazing, is Farmer's relationship with her mother, who continually admits her to filthy mental hospitals, from which her daughter runs away with her longtime boyfriend, Harry. In the final part of the film, we are finally shown an act that diminishes everything Farmer strode for: independence, her own voice, her own life. It's taken away, and replaced by mild temperament and neutral stance. It's quite a powerful scene, and anyone who watches will be terrified by society and their lengths to keep outspokenness in the Dark Ages. Dramatic and wild, Frances is hard to swallow, but captivating to watch.
  

  Super Reviewer
• Sep 12, 2008

  "frances" is a flick based on 1930s rebel actress frances farmer whose life and great potentiality were wasted horridly in mental institution. (raped, marred and lobotomized.)and "frances" is obviously the homage to the un-compromising individuality of frances farmer who lived beyond her time, a sound proof of social intolerance to outrageous candidness on woman. and there's a great sense of anachronism in the character of frances farmer who propels her tale of "one flew over cuckoo's nest" or female james dean way too early in this world. once a feministic author(possibly simone du bouvir) utters that society holds an enormous grudge against the woman who possesses both talent and beauty in the same time. (worse off, if she also has the edgy "IT") such woman is doomed to be ruptured by patriarchal society. beauty makes her the object of covetous desire for men, but her ego keeps her from being the willing puppet for chauvinistic sex commodity and hostility aroused around. then a misdemeanor leaves you into being diagnosed as schizophrenic, and you're F**KED. it takes gutsy pride to announce oneself as an atheist in public speech competition at the time frances farmer lived, and she even earns a prize as well as notoriety for it in her adolescence, a teenage girl who dares to shout out "god is not there!" then avidly ambitious frances shifts her aspiration from writing to acting since it's more immediate cannon for her spunk and wits. with her porcelain skin and statuesque looks, she reaches hollywood stardom which she rebuffs for its lack of depth, and it infuriates the mgm studio when she decides to nullify her movie contract for stage. her life begins to collapse when her beloved stage director, whom she was having an affair with, doublecross her together with the studio, dismissing her with an informative note about his wife's arrival. this event of heart-break detonates the frances' explosive nature then it leads to the accusation of mental illness. her doom ensues. firstly, she tries to offend the police officers who rudely abducts her from her private bathroom as well as the press by claiming her occupation is "c***s**ker". her proficiency of verbal defense/offense sinks her into even more severe discrimination. secondly, her rebellion against her overbearing mother who reports her whereabouts to the mad house, isolates her further. thirdly, the injustice of mental institution is sickeningly exploitative, and in one scene, she's ravished by numerous soldiers who buy off the guardian for their filthy privilege. "20 bucks to screw a movie star" is simply too harsh to endure. naked twisted bodies hang around grimly, an macabre image of grotesque. in the end, frances still says "i'm still me! it's one thing you cannot take away from me!!" apparently this movie is presented in the perspective of frances' mind, the angst of a wailing individual, and everything seems like others' fault and social wreckage over her incorruptible soul. but i cannot help but wonder why other female stars in her time could still glitter and also remain individualistic without suffering so? (garbo, dietrich, crawford, davis, stanwyck..all are female avant-gardists with the sharp edge.) so why can't she be one of them? primarily, farmer's family background is the bourgeois who settle in cozy suburbia, well-sheltered without the hard-boiled survival instincts. contradictorily, she ain't ordinary enough to mold herself in such environment. meanwhile her distinguished beauty makes people indulge her brittleness too easily. (beautiful women always tend to be spoilt. think about your other female classmates in high school.) she cannot take pressure and also too willfully idealistic to reconcile. if she ain't beautiful, she wouldn't be a sudden success. if she ain't beautiful, she wouldn't induce sexual ravages, right? it might be inappropriate to deem "frances" as avenging outcry of individuality, and it may be more like a dirge of american dream for female individuality. you're taught in childhood, men are born equal, and everyone has his right for public speech. BUT you forget it merely means MEN.
  

  Super Reviewer