Frances

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152 windows into your sou l After watching the first few minutes of a dozen or so unknown titles in search of an interesting movie, I stumbled on ‘Frances’ – a somewhat obscure 1980’s film portraying the real life story of Frances Farmer – a Hollywood actress primarily of the 1930’s. I’ll admit I knew nothing about Frances Farmer – her movies or her rise to stardom and this movie revealed her truly disturbing life’s story. While the claim of accuracy of this film is in dispute, the overarching message of her story remains unchallenged. Frances, brilliantly portrayed by Jessica Lange, is a troubled yet intelligent, and imaginative young woman longing for her parents’ love and acceptance. Her unconventional views on life emerge early in her teenage years, suggesting Frances has pondered questions normally reserved only for adults. Frances often found herself at odds with her sweet and innocent inner thoughts and her rebellious nature. She frequently challenged authority, but at Paramount Pictures and MGM studios, she lost her battle of independence to the Hollywood elites. Frances’ father (Bart Burns), while facing struggles of inadequacy in his own professional life, was surprisingly understanding and supportive of his daughter’s independent thinking. In contrast, her mother (Kim Stanley) who has also faced her own disappointments in life, viewing conformity to socially accepted norms an uncompromising requirement in life, resulted in her condemning her daughter’s thoughts as misguided. In her effort to rein Frances in, she discovered she had the ability to control Frances – creating a love/hate relationship that only intensified over the course of their lives. Frances’ life in a downward spiral, fueled by alcohol, severe depression, and mental illness, was accelerated by her mother’s control and her conscious decision to commit Frances to a psychiatric hospital, once again falling victim to authority subjecting her to unconscionable shock therapy ‘treatment’. This is obviously a ‘dark’ film with many instances of Frances’ stormy personality and self inflicted pain. After thoroughly exploring her real life story – I couldn’t help but to feel a real sense of compassion, even a love, for Frances Farmer. In the end she found comfort and solitude in her belief in God. May she finally Rest in Peace…… Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 11/09/25 Full Review Alain E An interesting presentation of the unfortunate Frances Farmer whose promising career in acting was cut short due to psychiatric disease. Her behavior in the film would not justify prolonged hospitalization. We now know that the claim that she was lobotomized is incorrect. These patients were subsequently very limited, while Ms Farmer continued living independently until her early death from cancer. Ms Lange’s performance is the main reason to see the movie. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/14/25 Full Review Jerod S Frances is a solid biopic about the sad treatment of Frances Farmer back in the 40s. Shock treatment and lobotomies were forced on her and her family was greedy. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/15/24 Full Review Alec B I'm not really sure what the perspective on Farmer is supposed to be here (its not really a straightforward victim narrative nor does it seem to want to examine her with complexity) but Lange's performance, one of her best, is the reason to see this. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/28/24 Full Review Audience Member Jessica Lange is Frances Farmer; this film directed by Graeme Clifford tells the true story of her alleged mental illness and the emotionally abusive treatment she received from her mother, Lillian Farmer In the 1930s she's an aspiring writer in Seattle writing essays sparking controversy with the public about religion labeled an aethiest Dwayne Steele was her first husband working for the paper Frances was a film star too in the 1930s who was then institutionalized in the 1940s Her career in Hollywood took off but quickly fell downward just as fast She resorted to alcoholism and society deemed her unfit Actors and actresses don't have what people want, how can one keep working while others are starving, does anybody really love anybody?, if you're treated like a patient you have to act like one Jessica Lange gives such a compelling performance and it's very heartbreaking seeing her as this woman continue to fall downward This is a person denying if something is really wrong when everyone else said it first Lange truly invests the tragic figure with a humanity that the script lacks and she captures, without self pity, the haunting quality of the eternal misfit Frances Farmer died in 1970 as she had lived...alone but she did all she could to live freely the way she wanted without feeling trapped Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 12/07/23 Full Review Audience Member Jessica Lange is Frances Farmer; this film directed by Graeme Clifford tells the true story of her alleged mental illness and the emotionally abusive treatment she received from her mother, Lillian Farmer In the 1930s she's an aspiring writer in Seattle writing essays sparking controversy with the public about religion labeled an aethiest Dwayne Steele was her first husband working for the paper Frances was a film star too in the 1930s who was then institutionalized in the 1940s Her career in Hollywood took off but quickly fell downward just as fast She resorted to alcoholism and society deemed her unfit Actors and actresses don't have what people want, how can one keep working while others are starving, does anybody really love anybody?, of you're treated like a patient you apt to act like one Jessica Lange gives such a compelling performance and it's very heartbreaking seeing her as this woman continue to fall downward This is a person denying if something is really wrong when everyone else said it first Lange truly invests the tragic figure with a humanity that the script lacks and she captures, without self pity, the haunting quality of the eternal misfit Frances Farmer died in 1970 as she had lived...alone but she did all she could to live freely the way she wanted without feeling trapped Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 12/08/22 Full Review Read all reviews

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