Frances (1982)

Jessica Lange was robbed of an Academy Award for her mesmerizing performance in the 1982 film, FRANCES, a relatively gripping character study/biography of the late 1930's actress Frances Farmer, who, after being ostracized from Hollywood, ended up being declared insane, institutionalized, and lobotomized, according to this screenplay. Not knowing a lot about the actress before the release of this film, I have never been sure of how factual it is (I always got the feeling that the Harry York character, played by Sam Shepherd, was fictional), but how many screen biographies are big on the facts? Sometimes facts are glossed over and/or ignored for the sake of preserving or igniting drama. Whether or not this is true is for those who knew Farmer to say. I did see an interview once with Farmer's nephew (?) who was very pleased with Lange's interpretation of Farmer and that is exactly why this film is worth seeing. Despite a meandering screenplay, turgid direction, and a feeling the movie is about 30 minutes too long, this movie is worth seeing for one reason and one reason only...the riveting performance by Jessica Lange. She is in virtually every frame of this movie and makes every single moment vivid and striking and achingly real. This film should be shown to acting classes on a daily basis...maybe the best performance by an actress in a leading role during the decade of the 1980's. Not a great film, but an amazing performance by a consummate actress that must be seen to be believed.

Fmovies: When you see a glamorous movie star on the silver screen, you immediately picture them having a glamorous life with no flaws or problems whatsoever. The film "Frances" proves that that is definitely not true.

Jessica Lange is excellent as Frances Farmer, the movie star from the 1930s who constantly wants to live life her own way. She becomes a big star until all the weight of being a star (publicity, bossy agents, the media) falls down hard on her, causing her to have a nervous breakdown. Eventually, she is wrongfully declared criminally insane and thrown into a mental institution.

The movie is glitzy and glamourous at one point, and turns disturbing and realistically gritty at the next. Lange gives her best performance here, which was nominated for an Oscar. In the end we realize that she wasn't crazy, she was just trying to be herself. It makes the viewer sympathize with movie stars, for the stuff they have to be put through. A fascinating movie.

Jessica Lange gives the performance of a lifetime as iconoclastic actress Frances Farmer, whose rejection of the star system led to her mental collapse and ostracism from her fame-hungry mother Lillian (Kim Stanley). Lange's command of the role makes you feel like there's a knife in your stomach. It's that intense. As for the question of what's accurate and what's not, that's not really important. The point is that Lange gets into this role to the max. "Frances" isn't the sort of movie that you can just watch; you have to feel like it's happening to you, or you might not get the full experience. All in all, a great movie. Also starring Sam Shepard and Jeffrey DeMunn.

Frances fmovies. That's the kind of movie I see over and over and over and it always give me the emotional density I was looking for... One of my favorite scenes is in this drama: Some time after lobotomy, Frances tells Jack that from this moment on the things will be slower... She has no more emotion, is no more that vivid girl she was. No matter if this really happen or not to the actress: the situation is pure emotion. I saw all the movies starred by Frances Farmer that was possible for me to see and it makes me like her very much. Again, the music of John Barry makes me cry. The Hollyood background have never been so perfect. Jessica Lange gives the right density to the drama of the girl... Oh, my God, how she deserved that Oscar she did'n get...

I watched Frances because I seemed to remember that Kevin Costner had a tiny part at the start of his career and I'm a big fan. I didn't expect necessarily to see anything startling other than what it said on the tin, a film about the real life movie star from the 40's, Frances Farmer, as played by Jessica Lange. I've always admired Jessica Lange as a really good actress but she's never blown me away like some stars do. At least, not until now. Now watching this 1982 movie in 2014 (a bit late, I know), she's completely reversed my previous thoughts about her. Her performance in this picture has to be one of the most dynamic, hypnotic acting stints I've ever seen by an actress. It reminded me a bit of Faye Dunaway in Network (where she won the Oscar). Looking this movie up I saw that Jessica was beaten in 1982 by Meryl Streep in Sophie's Choice, but if ever an actress was robbed of the Oscar, this performance was it. I'd urge anyone who loves acting at the highest level to watch this movie, just for Jessica Lange's performance, although there is also a very strong backup show by Kim Stanley as her mother. Very long at two and half hours, but I couldn't take my eyes off Jessica Lange's face. It's hard to detect between when she's being charming and when she might suddenly explode. Mesmerizing.

'Frances' is a highly touching reconstruction of the life of fifties actress Frances Farmer, from Seattle. Jessica Lange did a miraculous job in playing Frances, with paranoia in her rolling eyes, which -I must admit- makes her look like a madwoman indeed. The movie shows how someone can be completely destroyed by misunderstandings, enlarged by a ridiculous amount of media attention. The most beautiful part is that, where Frances returns to Seattle, now a star. The people who used to scorn her, are now kissing her butt to gain her sympathy. She stands still in the middle of the hallway, and with all eyes on her she starts to scream they are hypocrites. After that, she is of course again considered crazy, like before. Even when she only wants to be left alone, she is haunted and harassed by those who feel called upon 'helping her'. This, combined with a rather sensitive and unstable character, makes her paranoid and finally leads to her destruction.

I first heard about Frances Farmer through an interview with Kurt Cobain, who admired her courage and was experiencing the same as she had. Courtney got married in one of her dresses and even though their baby wasn't named after her but after a male Frances, they both thought of her later. Cobain also wrote a song about her, 'Frances Farmer will have her revenge on Seattle', which appeared on the second Nirvana studio album 'In Utero'.