If you’re not on the Noah Baumbach bandwagon you need to hop on and see “Frances Ha.” Baumbach’s latest film, written by Baumbach and the star of “Frances Ha,” Greta Gerwig, seems to deconstruct both the indie film template and the romantic comedy scheme.
Gerwig plays a modern woman in the throes of indecision. “She’s an impulsive character,” maintains Baumbach in a phone interview with Free Press Houston. Indeed, one moment Frances is fretting over a nominal ATM charge and then at another juncture she randomly decides to fly to Paris for the weekend. All on the rapidly decreasing credulity of her credit card. “In another movie that would be the exact right thing for a character to do, but here it’s an example of her not being able to make up her mind.”
“Frances Ha” moves with a spirit that calls to mind what works best in romantic comedy; there’s a frisky sense of play to both the possibility of romance and of finding one’s way in life. But is “Frances Ha” even really a romcom? The point of the film isn’t about Frances hooking up with a beau so much as getting her own apartment after spending most of the film crashing at friend’s places, avoiding responsibility or visiting her parents.
Additionally “Frances Ha” has one of the best visual looks of many recent films with its gorgeous black-and-white palette. (Perhaps not oddly, another film in limited release next month, Much Ado About Nothing, also sports a bold b&w look.) “We did multiple tests for a week with many different cameras,” Baumbach explained. Director of Photography Sam Levy and Baumbach decided on a Canon digital model and the results evoke the kind of beauty of New York City that Gordon Willis achieved with “Manhattan” (1979).
In collaborating with Gerwig on the script, Baumbach and her would trade out notes and pages as they were working in different cities on separate projects. “It’s different on different films,” explains Baumbach. “When I was writing Life Aquatic [The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou] with Wes Anderson, we were both in the same room.”
“Frances Ha” sets a new benchmark for Baumbach’s films. The story will really move and connect with audiences in a way that the less likeable characters of Baumbach’s previous films prevented. Not because films like “The Squid and the Whale,” or “Margot at the Wedding,” or “Greenberg” aren’t great on their own merits (they are), but in “Frances Ha” the characters aren’t consumed by self-loathing so much as self-doubt. And when that barrier is silenced the future can only look bright.
I would never use the phrase “indie darling” to coin what Gerwig shows in her movie roles, but her actions in “Frances Ha” are light-years from what most contempo actresses have on display. Gerwig’s performance in Frances Ha ranges from song to dance all cleverly worked into the reality of the story. The one-sheet for “Frances Ha” has Gerwig in a mid-dance step, which Baumbach describes as “the best still from the film– it was like jazz.” Baumbach explains, “we wanted to find a way to use that for the poster.” Frances Ha also co-stars Mickey Sumner, Grace Gummer, Michael Esper and Adam Driver.
Baumbach’s influences obviously stem from French films from the 1960s. In addition to a few current rock songs, Baumbach deliberately scores “Frances Ha” with music from French composer Georges Delerue. (Much like Tarantino scores his film predominantly with Ennio Morricone compositions.) Delerue may be best known for his work on Truffaut films although his output includes music for many international and domestic films. And if Baumbach’s sensibility recalls the frantic and quirky adventures of Truffaut’s Antoine Doinel series he also takes in 80s-era French filmmaking with a purposeful nod to Leos Carax’s 1986 “Mauvais Sang,” in which that film’s protagonist ran down a city street at night in a long take tracking shot while Bowie’s “Modern Love” blasts on the soundtrack.
“I’m familiar with the film and scene you’re talking about,” Baumbach says. “I hadn’t intended to use that particular song, yet when we were editing the film we tried a few songs with that sequence. The thing is, “Modern Love” is the perfect song to jog to, so yes, it became something of an homage.”
If pressed to name a couple of his favorite French films, Baumbach volunteered: “Of course there’s so many, but a couple that come to mind are Eric Rohmer films. La Collectionneuse [1967] and Le rayon vert [The Green Ray, 1986 released domestically as Summer].”
Frances Ha opens in select theaters in Houston this weekend.
– Michael Bergeron
