Frances
|
Our Price: $17.95 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $2.00 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of Frances
Movie Review: Farmer was not lobotomized
Summary: 3 Stars
Farmer was not lobotomized,as Robert Horton says in his review above. She, in fact, wrote an autobiography, "Will There Really Be A Morning?" The The Frances Farmer lobotomy legend is simply not supported by any evidence and has taken on a life of its own.Movie Review: Incredible performances--but not Frances' real story
Summary: 2 Stars
There are two reasons to watch "Frances", and two reasons only--Jessica Lange and Kim Stanley. Their performances are visceral and will stay with the viewer long after the film ends. The film itself, unfortunately, is a gross misrepresentation of what really happened to Frances Farmer. The film invents characters out of whole-cloth (Harry York never existed), and sensationalizes the sadder elements of Farmer's life in a fittingly ironic slap at her memory, considering what she thought of Hollywood in real life. Frances was never lobotomized, and though her relationship with her mother had its share of drama, it was nothing like what is portrayed in the film. In the most recent DVD release, director Graeme Clifford states on the commentary "We didn't want to nickel and dime people to death with facts," and that is surely the understatement of the century. There is an in-depth web essay pointing out the many misrepresentations in the source material for this film (many of which the film duplicates) which can be found by using a search engine and searching for "Shedding Light on Shadowland."Movie Review: This Film Doesn't Really Work
Summary: 2 Stars
It's easy for your perception of a film's quality to be negatively influenced by the fact that the film itself presents a dreary, unpleasant story, as Frances certainly does. With that in mind, I can still say that Frances was not a particularly good motion picture. I first saw this movie back in the '90's when Kurt Cobain's oft-stated fascination with hometown Seattle celebrity Frances Farmer motivated me to check it out. I also more recently sat in on a showing of it and now as then I was left appalled not only at the cruelty of society to the atheistic, left-leaning, high-living Frances Farmer, and disgusted with the barbarism of the mental health care system, but struck at how choppy this sanctimonious film was. It was neither good biography, nor history, nor tragedy. It was also not embraceable or inspiring, it was simply a muddled mess of human indignity mingled with heavily fabricated melodrama and tragedy, all resulting in a feature that tried to take as if by right its place in the pantheon of great cinema, but which does not belong there.Movie Review: disappointing
Summary: 2 Stars
i had never known that there was a movie made about the life story of one of my very favourite singers patsy cline.well they needn't have bothered as it was a very much by the numbers story something definetely not above anything that you would see as a midday movie on any weekday.i liked both of the main actors,jessica lange and ed harris.the problem for me was that there was no attempt at conveying any real depth to the characters.whilst i appreciate that there has to be some element of fiction in most bio-pics anyone watchimg the movie and not having heard of patsy cline would be none the wiser for her motivations and driving forces.the only saving grace for me was that patsys singing was used in the movie to at least try to convey the quality that others saw in her singing.Movie Review: Poor Character Portrayal
Summary: 2 Stars
Jessica Lange does not capture the personality of Frances Farmer well at all: when not hysterical, Lange portrays Farmer as somewhat simpering, rather than the bold, brassy figure that Farmer actually was; but I don't entirely blame Lange for this huge character portrayal gaffe: When viewing the extra material on the DVD, it soon become QUITE clear that the makers of this movie were more interested in themselves than their actual subject matter: The extra material included is nothing but a bunch of mutual back-slapping among a few Hollywood yuppies, and the references to Farmer are very much extraneous.