Frances (film)

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Frances
EMI Films
  • Brooksfilms
  • Distributed by
    Release date
    • December 3, 1982 (1982-12-03)
    Running time
    140 minutes
    CountryUnited States[1][2]
    LanguageEnglish
    Budget$8 million[3]
    Box office$5 million

    Frances is a 1982 American

    in supporting roles.

    The film chronicles Farmer's life from her days as a

    mental illness in the 1940s, her deinstitutionalization in the 1950s and her appearance on This Is Your Life
    .

    Frances was released theatrically on December 3, 1982 by

    Universal Pictures
    . Lange's performance was unanimously praised and has been cited by many (including her) as her best performance. At the
    55th Academy Awards, it received two nominations for Lange and Stanley as Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress respectively.

    Plot

    Born in

    Group Theatre
    .

    After leaving Hollywood for

    electroconvulsive shock therapy, is cruelly beaten, periodically raped by the male orderlies and visiting soldiers from a nearby military base and involuntarily lobotomized
    before her release in 1950.

    In 1958, Frances is paid honor on

    ) from 1958 to 1964 before dying alone, just as she had lived, on August 1, 1970 at age 56.

    Cast

    Production

    The film was developed by the team who had made The Elephant Man, writers Eric Bergren and Christopher De Vore, and producer Jonathan Sanger and Mel Brooks. Brooks was keen for David Lynch, who had directed The Elephant Man, to direct. However, Lynch had signed an agreement with Universal. Sanger then suggested Graeme Clifford, who was well established as an editor, notably having made several films with Robert Altman. "He's very bright and completely in love with the story", said Brooks.[4]

    The script was based upon William Arnold's

    Shadowland, a fictional biography of Farmer. In pre-production, the producers reneged on their option to use the book as source material. Arnold filed an unsuccessful copyright infringement lawsuit but many of his fictional elements were incorporated into the final film.[5]

    On the commentary of the DVD release, director Clifford stated, "We didn't want to nickel and dime people to death with facts." Mel Brooks was executive producer of the film, but as with The Elephant Man, Brooks intentionally received no credit for his participation as his name had been attributed to parodies or crude comedies.

    The filmmakers struggled to gain finance until EMI Films stepped in.[6]

    The nude scene of Farmer's arrest with policemen breaking into the Knickerbocker Hotel was particularly frustrating and demanding for Jessica Lange. There was a problem with the bathroom door which stuck and stuck again when the actors playing cops on the other side tried to get it open. The entire scene, lasting no more than three minutes of film time, took four days to shoot. Lange was disgusted. She began to feel as used, abused, and manipulated as Frances herself.[7]

    Casting

    Many actresses were considered candidates for the role of Frances Farmer including Anne Archer, Susan Blakely, Blythe Danner, Susan Dey, Patty Duke, Mia Farrow, Sally Field, Jane Fonda, Goldie Hawn, Diane Keaton, Liza Minnelli, Susan Sarandon, Cybill Shepherd, Sissy Spacek, Meryl Streep, Natalie Wood and Tuesday Weld.[citation needed] Faye Dunaway turned it down.[8]

    "This is a role every actress waits all her life for", said Hawn.[3]

    Jessica Lange had wanted to play the role since reading Farmer's memoirs in the late 1970s. She tried to interest Bob Rafelson and Bob Fosse to make the film but neither was interested. Then she says Clifford called her directly offering the role. (Clifford had edited Lange in The Postman Always Rings Twice.)[9]

    "She was very high-strung and had overpowering elements in her personality of self-destruction, but she was a real warrior", said Lange. "It was misguided heroics."[10]

    "I began to identify with Frances Farmer's anger", said Lange. "She would release it no matter what the consequences were."[3]

    Susan Blakely went on to portray Farmer in the 1983 CBS television film Will There Really Be a Morning?[11]

    Music

    The original music score was composed by John Barry. According to Barry, his idea of carrying the main theme using a harmonica was initially disliked by producers until they heard it fully orchestrated. Along with some popular songs from the period, a notable piece of music was from Mozart's Piano Sonata No.11, K331, and the second movement of Beethoven's seventh Symphony also featured.

    Editing

    The film originally ran for three hours and was cut down. This meant reduction of the amount of screen time dedicated to Frances and her parents, and Frances and her love interest. Clifford would subsequently claim he felt the film was too short.[6]

    Reception

    Frances holds a 67% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 30 reviews with the consensus: "This sordid biopic emphasizes the indignities visited upon Frances Farmer to the detriment of fleshing her out as a person, but Jessica Lange's towering performance invests the tragic figure with a humanity that the script lacks."[12]

    Awards and nominations

    Award Category Nominee(s) Result
    Academy Awards[13] Best Actress Jessica Lange Nominated
    Best Supporting Actress Kim Stanley Nominated
    Golden Globe Awards[14] Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama Jessica Lange Nominated
    Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture Kim Stanley Nominated
    Huabiao Awards Outstanding Translated Foreign Film Won
    Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards[15] Best Actress Jessica Lange Runner-up
    Moscow International Film Festival[16] Golden Prize Graeme Clifford Nominated
    Best Actress Jessica Lange Won
    Nastro d'Argento Best Foreign Actress Nominated
    National Society of Film Critics Awards[17] Best Actress 2nd Place
    New York Film Critics Circle Awards[18] Best Actress Runner-up

    References

    1. ^ "Frances (1982)". British Film Institute. Retrieved March 6, 2024.
    2. ^ "Frances (1982)". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Retrieved March 6, 2024.
    3. ^ a b c Mills, Bart (September 23, 1982). "Fame rings for Lange". The Guardian. p. 17.
    4. ^ "Mel Brooks and the sad Seattle cinema usherette". The Guardian. October 10, 1981. p. 11.
    5. ^ Mills, Bart (February 12, 1983). "Hollywood's power of attorney". The Guardian. p. 6.
    6. ^ a b Pollock, Dale (December 2, 1982). "Clifford Gets First Shot as Director in 'Frances'". Los Angeles Times.
    7. ^ "The Making of Frances". oocities.org. Retrieved January 28, 2022.
    8. Live with Regis and Kathie Lee. November 27, 1990. ABC
      .
    9. ^ Mann, Roderick (January 17, 1982). "Lange's Role: The Insanity of It All...". Los Angeles Times. p. l27.
    10. ^ Harmetz, Aljean (December 21, 1982). "'I was so incredibly naive about... Hollywood': Lange's star grows ever brighter". The Globe and Mail. p. 15.
    11. ^ "Susan Blakely". AllMovie. Archived from the original on April 4, 2009.
    12. ^ "Frances". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved March 24, 2023.
    13. ^ "The 55th Academy Awards (1983) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Archived from the original on September 5, 2012. Retrieved October 9, 2011.
    14. HFPA
      . Retrieved August 13, 2021.
    15. ^ "The 8th Annual Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards". Los Angeles Film Critics Association. Retrieved August 13, 2021.
    16. ^ "13th Moscow International Film Festival (1983)". MIFF. Archived from the original on November 7, 2013. Retrieved February 6, 2013.
    17. ^ "Past Awards". National Society of Film Critics. December 19, 2009. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
    18. ^ "1982 New York Film Critics Circle Awards". Mubi. Retrieved August 13, 2021.

    External links