Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.0

Frances Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 25, 2023

Note: This is officially a Region B release, but appears to be region free and played without any issues in my Region A players.

They say "don't believe everything you read", but in the case of Frances, it may be best to slightly alter that to "don't believe everything you see". Longtime readers of my reviews may already know I got sucked into a Frances Farmer rabbit hole at a relatively young age, and in fact seeing the film currently under discussion on a double feature with the "real" Frances Farmer's star making turn in Come and Get It (still inexplicably unavailable on Blu-ray) was part of what started my "burrowing". It wasn't long before I made a connection with Frances' late sister Edith, who lived for much of her life in Portland where I reside, and a lot of sleuthing (much of it done considerably pre-internet) also delivered additional information about the enigmatic star of the 1930s and 1940s who rather infamously was institutionalized for several years, even if she did not suffer the horrifying fate depicted in the climax of this undeniably viscerally disturbing film. A lot of people say things along the lines of "that movie changed my life" without really meaning it in any literal sense, but I can truthfully say that seeing the double feature of Come and Get It and Frances inarguably changed the trajectory of at least some of my film journalistic efforts. (Those interested can read a more detailed account of my double feature adventure and its immediate aftermath here, in an excerpt from a book I was writing which was scheduled for publication by a niche film publisher until they alerted me they didn't have the budget for any pictures, which I wanted to include).

Frances is an unabashedly disturbing viewing experience, and it features superb Oscar nominated performances by Jessica Lange as Frances and Kim Stanley as her supposedly domineering mother Lillian, and at least some of the film actually dabbles in both the truth and subtext of Farmer's fascinating life. The film actually does a decent job providing some context about Frances' prescient awareness of what might be called social justice issues, and even in a way Divine justice issues, since her famous high school essay "God Dies" questioned why an all knowing Presence would answer her prayer to find a lost hat on the same day that a friend of hers found out her parents had been killed.

The film does considerably less well in providing an accurate account of Farmer's Hollywood and Broadway careers (to the hilarious point of misspelling Joel McCrea's name on a billboard, as seen in screenshot 9). As many familiar with the film and its many "fictionalizations" (more about that term in a moment) will know, screenwriters Eric Bergren, Christopher DeVore, and Nicholas Kazan (the last of whom certainly should have known better, given his father's relationship with Frances) also added a completely made up character named Harry York (Sam Shepherd), who keeps showing up like a veritable Deus ex Machina every time Farmer finds herself confronted with problems. As visceral as the interplay between Frances and Lillian is in the film, it's also diametrically opposed to some of Farmer's own statements about their relationship, at least vis a vis her stardom, since during her late fifties comeback tour, Farmer gave several interviews where she explicitly stated it was she who wanted to remain in show business and her family (including her mother) who were urging her to get out and take some time to rest.

The film's misrepresentations of the historical record are legion, and anyone interested can get a point by point listing of at least some of them in another piece I wrote which has received quite a bit of international attention in both print and broadcast media over the years and which can be found here. That piece is actually tied more specifically to a book which was obviously the source for the film and which later became part of a rather celebrated lawsuit between its author and Brooksfilms, which is covered in some detail in the linked to piece. Suffice it to say that the focus of that lawsuit was in fact "fictionalizing" per the author's own use of that term, and whether or not this film had purloined some of those "fictionalizations".

Frances Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Frances is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Divisa with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Kind of interestingly this film has never had a Region A release on Blu-ray, and this features a StudioCanal masthead along with Lionsgate, so I'm not completely sure of the rights and therefore element provenance(s), but from the looks of things this may well be an older master. In its best moments, things pop quite agreeably and detail levels are very good, but there are a number of deficiencies, including some chroma anomalies on grain (especially against brighter backgrounds) and a somewhat yellowed appearance. I saw Frances theatrically, per my above comments (and more than once, actually), and it had a somewhat golden hued, soft look, which is duplicated here. Very small signs of age related wear and tear can be spotted.

Frances Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

This Spanish release offers Spanish and English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono options, though the English language track comes with forced Spanish subtitles, which may turn off some prospective buyers for this region free offering. One way or the other, both tracks provide good, fluid listening experiences, with both offering a rather sumptuous accounting of John Barry's really beautiful score. The disc offers two Spanish language options, one without subtitles and the other with. Subtitles can not be toggled on and off.

Frances Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Gallery (HD; 3:25)

Frances Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Frances is an emotionally devastating film, but it's quite simply far removed from the real story, which in its own way is in fact stranger than fiction. Technical merits are generally solid for anyone considering making a purchase.