Understanding Frances Ha (2011) | Beautiful Chaos

Noah Buambach’s Francis Ha is a wonderful movie about chaos. But not just any chaos, a beautiful chaos that swirls you around and drags you through the ups and downs of living a life you can be proud of. A life that you are not ashamed to admit has been tough but one that ultimately ends down a path that you are satisfied with.

Greta Gerwig the star and co writer plays Francis, an apprentice dancer in New York as we see her struggle to break into that industry and as she comes to terms with that she isn’t a child anymore and must take more responsibility. A 27 year old without a proper job or a place of her own to stay. It’s a story that feels relatable in the sense that she is a character pushed by her passion for her dancing and her friend Sophie that she just wants to stay in this moment. Where her and Sophie keep living together and they can go out drinking and having endless fun forever.

But that perfect world she has created, a world that lacks responsibility is broken into tiny pieces, with Sophie leaving to live with someone else leaving Francis to find another accommodation. There we get to see how this movie is structured as each new place Francis lives becomes a chapter that eventually ends with her living on her own and in her own apartment.