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| Frances | 
 enlarge | Director: Graeme Clifford
Actors: Jessica Lange, Kim Stanley, Sam Shepard, Bart Burns, Jonathan Banks
Studio: Starz / Anchor Bay
Category: DVD
List Price: $9.98
Buy New: $2.99
You Save: $6.99 (70%)
New (35) Used (14) from $2.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  53 reviews
Sales Rank: 3738
Format: Anamorphic, Color, Dvd-video, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 140
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: ANBD11559D
UPC: 013131155990
EAN: 0013131155990
ASIN: B00005OCK1
Theatrical Release Date: 1982
Release Date: February 19, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand New Factory Sealed- We ship to APO/FPO's.
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| Customer Reviews:
 A brilliant film June 5, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
A brilliant film -- but troubling, very troubling. Jessica Lange gives one of greatest performances of any american actress ever. Kim Stanley also gives one of the greatest character performances ever. These two are unforgettable.
The facts of Francis Farmer's life are not entirely accurate in the film ... but Jessica Lange captures her spirit. She traverses an emotional range which few actresses are capable. She moved what could have been a mundane biographical story into the realm of art.
This is a film which should move you and has some very important things to say about the human spirit ...
 more or less accurate; strong performances May 25, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is from 20 years ago or so---the mostly true story of outspoken actress Frances Farmer, beset on all sides by her pushy mother, Hollywood gossip columnists, and movie studio suits. The lobotomy scene has been discredited, but the rest--with the lunatic asylums and all their accompanying unpleasantness-- may be true. Jessica Lange gives a powerful performance alongside Sam Shepard and Kim Stanley. Great perfomers, all.
Disturbing, in every sense April 19, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is one of the most horrifying, heartbreaking stories I have ever seen. There are a lot of reviewers here who contest the authenticity of the storyline, but even if what is depicted is even remotely true, here is a life that no-one deserves.
I don't agree with a lot of what Jessica Lange has to say, current issues, political views and such, but I have tremendous respect for her acting ability. Her portrayal of an unbalanced, threatened, hounded woman, is without peer. In this film, she portrays the film star Frances Farmer, showing a very controversial, headstrong woman, a no-no in the day of Farmer's rise and fall. Attacking a hairdresser, being pulled over by the police, then attacking a police officer, and being convicted of Contempt of Court, yes, she needed to learn a lesson. But people in authority don't like people who make waves.
The story follows her life, so to speak, through some rough times, some happier times, and, what I would call one of the saddest, most frustrating, completely horrifying things to happen to somebody. She's happy, she knows what she wants, and is ready to begin anew, without Hollyweird. The typical stage-mother sees this as a bad idea, and a fight ensues. Since she was stripped of her legal rights as an adult, her mother's decisions count, not hers, and in one of the most vicious things one could do to another person, commits Frances to a mental intstitution a second time. Seeing her sitting there, remembering her life when it was better, in a crowded mental infirmary, surrounded with the dregs of society, drugged, hair chopped off, restrained, tied down and raped, this is an excruciating scene to watch. As with the Ice-Pick Lobotomy. Detractors of this film say this didn't happen to her, but it DOES happen. Or, at the very least, it did happen to people. Like an earlier scene, where the doctors strapped her to a bed, and injected her full of Insulin, telling her it was a tranquilizer. Watching convulsions isn't a pleasant experience, and having one, I can't imagine.
The written narration at the end of the film says, "She died as she lived: Alone."
Yes, this is one brutal film, one that can leave a viewer exhausted, physically, as well as emotionally, and will stay with you for a very long time, knowing how people tend to treat someone who is a little "different."
 disappointing April 2, 2007
0 out of 6 found this review helpful
i had never known that there was a movie made about the life story of one of my very favourite singers patsy cline.well they needn't have bothered as it was a very much by the numbers story something definetely not above anything that you would see as a midday movie on any weekday.i liked both of the main actors,jessica lange and ed harris.the problem for me was that there was no attempt at conveying any real depth to the characters.whilst i appreciate that there has to be some element of fiction in most bio-pics anyone watchimg the movie and not having heard of patsy cline would be none the wiser for her motivations and driving forces.the only saving grace for me was that patsys singing was used in the movie to at least try to convey the quality that others saw in her singing.
Offscreen Drama March 13, 2007
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Frances Farmer was a 1930s actress who starred in movies such as "Come and Get It". But she was known more for what happened in her real life than her movies. A native of Seattle, Frances was a non-comformist. She was outspoken, independent, politically active, and unlike the many celebrities of her time--and even ours--pursued acting for the sake of acting. She didn't pursue it for the money, the fame, or the recognition. She did it because she loved it; it was what she wanted to do. And she wanted to be free to choose her own roles. She was very much her own person, the Susan Sarandon and Jane Fonda of her time.
However, she was doing all of this in the 30s, a time when being a rebel in Hollywood was frowned upon. In fact, it was downright discouraged. The studio executives didn't take too kindly to this, and they made sure Frances paid for it. Oh, boy, did she ever pay. Hollywood may not have directly contributed to her downfall, but they surely played their part. Coupled with the troubles in her own life (such as her drinking and brushes with the law), not to mention a very troubled relationship with her mom (a controlling, exploitative woman who seemed to live vicariously through her daughter without caring what she was doing to her), Frances spent the better part of her adult life in various mental institutions where patients were mistreated and sexually exploited (men would be snuck in after hours to have sex with them). She was eventually given a transorbital lobotomy, robbing her of all the traits that made her who she once was. Some have said that she never really got one and others have said that she did. We'll never know.
Frances Farmer wasn't really crazy. Sure, she was no angel, but she absolutely wasn't crazy. She was a strong, independent woman who just wanted to be true to herself. After all was said and done, she was killed, not physically, but emotionally and mentally.
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