Movie · 2013 · Comedy, Drama · 1h 26m · R · English
Curator score: 8.6/10 (712.4K ratings)
I'm not messy, I'm busy.
Overview
An aspiring dancer moves to New York City and becomes caught up in a whirlwind of flighty fair-weather friends, diminishing fortunes and career setbacks.
Ratings
Curator score: 8.6/10
IMDb: 7.4/10
Letterboxd: 4.03/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 92%
Metacritic: 82
TMDB: 7.3/10
Director
Noah Baumbach
Production
Scott Rudin Productions, RT Features, Pine District Pictures
Cast
Greta Gerwig, Mickey Sumner, Michael Zegen, Adam Driver, Charlotte d'Amboise, Patrick Heusinger, Michael Esper, Grace Gummer, Josh Hamilton, Maya Kazan, Justine Lupe, Britta Phillips, Juliet Rylance, Dean Wareham, Hannah Dunne, Daiva Deupree, Isabelle McNally, Vanessa Ray, Lindsay Burdge, Marina Squerciati
Where to watch
Netflix, AMC+, Philo, Sundance Now
Curator Review
Verdict
A sharp, lightly comic portrait of post-college drift that turns insecurity, friendship, and ambition into something warm and painfully recognizable. Its black-and-white style and loose, observant rhythm give it a breezy surface, but the emotional aftertaste is much deeper.
Best for
viewers who like character-driven coming-of-age stories
fans of bittersweet New York indie comedies
people drawn to messy friendships and quarter-life-crisis narratives
audiences who appreciate naturalistic dialogue and understated humor
Skip if
you want a tightly plotted story with big twists
you dislike aimless, slice-of-life storytelling
you prefer broad jokes over awkward, conversational comedy
you need a traditionally triumphant or cathartic ending
Overview
Frances Ha is one of the defining films about being almost-adult: talented enough to know you should be somewhere else, but untethered enough to keep drifting. It finds comedy in embarrassment and tenderness in self-delusion, making Frances feel both specific and universal. The film’s energy comes from small humiliations, fleeting connections, and the stubborn hope that life will eventually click into place.
Worth noting
Noah Baumbach’s direction keeps everything light on its feet, while the black-and-white photography gives the movie a timeless, almost memory-like quality. Greta Gerwig’s performance is the key: funny, vulnerable, and endlessly watchable, she makes Frances’s contradictions feel alive rather than merely quirky. The result is a film that can feel like a joke in one scene and a quiet emotional gut punch in the next.
Bottom line
What lingers most is its understanding of friendship as something both sustaining and unstable. People drift, disappoint, and outgrow one another, yet the movie never becomes cynical about that fact. It’s a generous, rueful, and deeply human film that rewards viewers who’ve ever felt behind their own life.
Top Letterboxd reviews
clownhead (4.5★) · 16224 likes
"so, what do you do?"
"it's kind of hard to explain."
"because ... what you do is complicated?"
"because I don't really do it."
LET ME LIVE I DIDN'T NEED TO BE CALLED OUT LIKE THIS AT ONE AM
mulaney (5★) · 16186 likes
SOPHIE I FUCKING HELD YOUR HEAD WHILE YOU CRIED I BOUGHT SPECIAL MILK FOR YOU I KNOW WHERE YOU HIDE YOUR PILLS DON’T TREAT ME LIKE A 3-HOUR BRUNCH FRIEND
Patrick Willems (4.5★) · 11305 likes
I've now seen Frances Ha three times
The first time I was younger than Frances is in the movie (she's 27). I couldn't stand most of the characters and thought the movie was just okay.
The second time I was 27. By then I had lived through (or was currently living through) much of what Frances does in the movie. I understood these characters now, and watching the movie was a mildly devastating emotional experience. I loved it.
This time… more
maria (4★) · 11117 likes
it's that thing when you're with someone, and you love them and they know it, and they love you and you know it... but it's a party... and you're both talking to other people, and you're laughing and shining... and you look across the room and catch each other's eyes... but - but not because you're possessive, or it's precisely sexual... but because... that is your person in this life. and it's funny and sad, but only because this life… more it's that thing when you're with someone, and you love them and they know it, and they love you and you know it... but it's a party... and you're both talking to other people, and you're laughing and shining... and you look across the room and catch each other's eyes... but - but not because you're possessive, or it's precisely sexual... but because... that is your person in this life. and it's funny and sad, but only because this life… more
˗ˏˋ suspirliam ˊˎ˗ (5★) · 10809 likes
normalise greeting people with the phrase “ahoy sexy”
A gentle, funny adult dramedy that finds poignancy in ordinary social awkwardness and connection.
Topics
indie comedy, dramedy, New York City, black-and-white cinematography, millennial anxiety, female-led, slice of life, friendship drama, coming-of-age, art-house