“Get your shit together”, says a friend of Frances at one point. If there was a phrase that summed up the entry into adulthood – as late as possible, by the way – this would be it. The moment when growing up means having control over our lives, deciding things, making things happen. Frances still lives in this limbo as she hops through the streets of New York (a city so palpable, so adored by Baumbach and Gerwig, the screenwriters) and takes an entire film on her back without ever getting (us) exhausted. Lovely is a word invented to describe the sweet Frances, a girl who is heartbroken when her best friend moves out. There is a whole path to walk, finding a way to forgive, getting a real job, paying for a real flat, building a real life. There is an end that is a beginning, as in any cycle, and avenges the comforting idea that all things will be in place at the right time. (M. M.) walk, finding a way to forgive, getting a real job.
