lune7000
Junior Member
@lune7000
Posts: 1,091
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Post by lune7000 on Feb 28, 2023 2:52:25 GMT
This is the Jessica Lange film portraying Frances Farmer. I saw it Saturday and got interested in the life of Farmer so I did some research today.
First the film I have to say that I did not like Francis, I felt the film was very disjointed and came off like a high school book report with scenes that just seem to go "Francis did this" and "Francis did that". Any movie about mental illness has to enter the mind of the person who is suffering- I did not feel this movie did this in the way that "A beautiful mind" or "The Aviator" did. A very superficial film.
As for the acting, while I was amazed at the physical similarity between Jessica Lange and Francis Farmer, I felt that Lange came off as too consistent in the movie- she didn't really seem to change over the years. Scenes of Farmer's last years were acted exactly like scenes from her youth and there was little insight by Lange into Francis Farmer herself or what made her tick- nothing evolves, nothing grows.
Frances Farmer As far as Francis Farmer's real life, it turns out the movie has little to do with this! Entire significant events and characters are simply made up. It's really sad because Francis Farmer's real life is very interesting in a different way. I truly hope someday that somebody will put out a movie that really captures what Francis Farmer's struggles were, and the complexities of her development (she was a very committed professional in many ways and a workaholic.) This movie is a cheap sensationalist exploitation of a person- the real story would be much better and more interesting
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Post by Isapop on Feb 28, 2023 10:22:43 GMT
Well, I do love John Barry's contribution:
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Post by Richard Kimble on Feb 28, 2023 22:00:44 GMT
I prefer the contemporary TV-movie w/Susan Blakely, Will There Really Be A Morning? (from FF's autobio).
For several years before Frances I actually wondered that if there ever was a FF biopic, would JL play her -- that's how much they resembled each other.
IIRC as a teen a few years earlier I had stumbled upon Come & Get It, and was shocked at how much FF resembled JL (ironically, something similar happens in C&GI).
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Post by Richard Kimble on Feb 28, 2023 22:02:22 GMT
Frances Farmer will have her revenge on Seattle
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Post by timshelboy on Feb 28, 2023 23:14:24 GMT
Must admit I enjoyed it at the time but not seen for 40 years. Agree the John Barry score was fine.
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Post by Richard Kimble on Feb 28, 2023 23:22:16 GMT
France's Farmer
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lune7000
Junior Member
@lune7000
Posts: 1,091
Likes: 678
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Post by lune7000 on Feb 28, 2023 23:52:32 GMT
Must admit I enjoyed it at the time but not seen for 40 years. Agree the John Barry score was fine. John Barry is a welcome name on any DVD or CD case. I didn't mention the score b/c I separate music from film when I evaluate movies. I have seen many awful movies with good scores- so I refuse to blame the composer for something he has little control over. I have lots of CD's of scores for movies that I will never watch again.
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Post by Richard Kimble on Mar 3, 2023 21:10:05 GMT
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Post by Lebowskidoo 🦞 on Jan 13, 2024 22:13:20 GMT
Rewatched it last year. Lange gave me chills in the scene where Frances explodes in rage on the film set. Simply astonishing.
Here's a younger unknown Kevin Costner paying the rent.
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