Frankie

PG-13

Released Oct 25, 2019

1 hr. 38 min.

Drama

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List

57%

107 Reviews

Tomatometer

31%

Fewer than 50 Verified Ratings

Audience Score

A family confronts a life-altering crisis while vacationing in Portugal.

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Critics Consensus

Flawed yet well-acted, Frankie finds director/co-writer Ira Sachs getting snagged in his story's thorny relationships -- and often freed by his stellar cast.

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Bo Doogley U

Some terrific acting vignettes and a glorious setting but there were too many clunky lines of dialogue.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

11/18/19

Full Review

Audience Member

FRANKIE 10/27/19 Ira Sach's new film FRANKIE features the great French actress, a frail Isabelle Huppert who is dying and has summoned her family and a good friend to join her in the wealthy resort town of Sintra, Portugal, whose diverse landscape straddles airless, dense green foliage, stepped-up hills with wide vistas allowing us to voyeuristically watch life below - desultory marionettes interacting with one another like mysterious silhouettes, and the breadth and expanse of the Atlantic Ocean where the panoramic scenery is infinite as are the possibilities. Sachs sweeping terrain is a major character in the film echoing the twists and turns of interpersonal relationships. The movie begins with Frankie's family and her good friend Ilene (Marisa Tomei) having traveled from divergent locations arriving in Sintra along with tourists who will partake of the rich history of the town. We focus in on the always wonderful actor - a hulking Brendon Gleeson who plays Frankie's adoring husband Jimmy, slowly walking up steep steps - occasionally stopping to rest and drink from the water cupped in his hands to quench his physical and psychic pain quashing the knowledge that loss is imminent. We first meet Francoise Cremont, nicknamed Frankie (Isabelle Huppert), seemingly strong and healthy swimming topless in a clear blue pool amidst luxuriant surroundings. As she alights from the pool we are able to see her smallish, frangible body - a beautiful woman who can be both commanding and fragile. The strength of their marriage is evident in a scene where we witness them passionately making love - his large torso cradling her thin figure - the intertwining forms breathtakingly stunning to behold. Frankie's first husband Michel who we see with binoculars observing others from afar is a "survivor" of his relationship with Huppert. An intimate moment in the film occurs when both husbands talk and Michel reveals that the ending of his marriage to Frankie was a porthole to a more truthful life; the opportunity to come out and admit that he was gay. Michel is also the father of Frankie's beloved son Paul who cannot sustain a relationship with a woman. Frankie who usually gets what she wants- making plans for others - would like to see her best friend Ilene hookup with her son. The only problem being that Ilene has brought a boyfriend Gary along on the trip. Jimmy's daughter Maya played by Vinette Robinson (Frankie's step-daughter) her husband Ian (Ariyon Bakare) and her rebellious teenage daughter Sylvia - a lovely Sennia Naua - angry and frightened by the antagonistic tension she senses between her parents are also part of the cortege. There is a beautiful vignette of a thin, long-legged child-woman Sylvia going off by herself to the beach on a bus where she meets a young man and we are witness to the tender seductiveness of permeated innocence. There is a magical trust that we experience when we are young that is hard to rekindle with future connections. There is an intimacy to this film that is exquisitely delicate - the cinematography, the writing and even the long wavering shots of the surroundings have a light touch like a passing caress. Many of the scenes with Huppert involve long solitary walks where we sense the strength of her will but at the same time the weakness of her frame - cancer has taken its toll and now is the time to say goodbyes. Yet Frankie somewhat believes that she can arrange life after death - make liaisons, clean up the loose ends, etc. But life is ephemeral and the last scene in the movie is illuminating, sublimely acted by Huppert, where you can see on her face that she realizes that "the living" akin to the Universe keeps on spinning - with or without your direction creating surprises that bump up against your considered expectations.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/25/23

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Rob W

Magnificent acting, filming, script. If you're expecting, indeed, like, glib Hollywood nonsense with people, grinning and shouting and flinging their arms about in the usual travesty of acting, then you won't like "Frankie." It's slow, nuanced, uses silence and pauses. Not a car chase or explosion in sight. It's a film for grown ups. Sintra is a great setting. A really quality film. And no cute, easy solutions with happy old people surviving and thriving. Unsentimental.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/22/23

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tom m

It was okay, but just okay. The story was a bit depressing and I thought the story was told at too slow of a pace.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

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ernest e

Must be most dull movie we seen in years my girlfriend fell asleep, poor construction with bad script really bad sound effect music. The timing of scenes had no rhythm jumping between different stories that had no connection. Only good thing was the Portuguese scenery and locations but they appeared to be more some attempt at verifying the characters ego than showing something really meaningful. How low can you go for something so bad to win best movie award? These awards need to be stopped immediately.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I can only say one word when thinking of this movie. Elegance. The chlothes and scenery and direction are elegant, but more important is how the writer builds the story. Slow but fine. A fine story about things to come and the importance of having supportingg people to face what the future has for us.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/27/23

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Ira Sachs

Director

Isabelle Huppert

Françoise Crémont, dit Frankie

Brendan Gleeson

Jimmy

Marisa Tomei

Irene Bianchi

Jérémie Renier

Paul Gagne

Pascal Greggory

Michel Gagne

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Frankie: Movie Clip - We Will See You

1:34

Frankie: Movie Clip - So Good to See You

0:53

Frankie: Movie Clip - Never Confuse Money and Love

1:07

Frankie: Movie Clip - Is This a Proposal?

1:53

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Frankie: Trailer 1

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Simran Hans

Observer (UK)

The approach taken by director Ira Sachs is utterly sincere and so utterly humourless, though the performances are quietly compelling...

Rated: 3/5

May 31, 2021

Full Review

Kevin Maher

Times (UK)

Even within the breezy parameters of the travelogue movie genre (think Eat Pray Love or Under the Tuscan Sun), this sun-kissed melodrama is decidedly lacking in drive.

Rated: 2/5

May 29, 2021

Full Review

Ian Freer

Empire Magazine

It has its pleasures but after the nuance and emotional hits of Love Is Strange and Little Men, Frankie is a disappointment. Not even la Reine, Isabelle Huppert, can elevate this one.

Rated: 2/5

May 27, 2021

Full Review

Brian T. Carney

Washington Blade

In a transcendently luminescent performance, the brilliant Isabelle Huppert plays a dying French actress who has gathered her large complicated family together for one last holiday.

Dec 7, 2022

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Dan Bayer

Next Best Picture

Another low-key gem from writer-director Ira Sachs.

Rated: 7/10

May 13, 2022

Full Review

Jason Adams

My New Plaid Pants

Frankie is a symphony of light and color, expressiveness in gesture and speech

Jan 14, 2022

Full Review

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Synopsis

A family confronts a life-altering crisis while vacationing in Portugal.

Director: Ira Sachs
Executive Producer: Kevin Chneiweiss
Screenwriter: Ira Sachs, Mauricio Zacharias
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Production Co: Proximus, SBS Productions, Beluga Tree, O Som e a Fúria
Rating: PG-13 (Some Sexual Material|Brief Strong Language)
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 25, 2019, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Feb 15, 2020
Box Office (Gross USA): $171.5K

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