There really isn't a better word for this film than that one-word description of its title character and protagonist. Frances Ferguson is utterly listless, showing little to no interest in anything, lacking all animation and passion, utterly bored with and uninterested in the world and with herself. The narrator even states that she does not know or care about the difference between the best and worst things ever to happen to her. Unfortunately, this sets up the entire film. Frances is mindlessly drifting through her life, and for the next hour and fifteen minutes, you will be mindlessly drifting along with her.
The film begins with Frances having made a number of obviously bad decisions, every one of which appears to have been clearly identifiable as a bad decision before she made it (e.g. she married a boy 3 months after they met). The narration describes her as "cast adrift," but clearly no one is the architect of her pointless drift but Frances herself. As the film progresses, Frances continues her series of obviously bad decisions that are clearly identifiable in advance. The reason for all of these bad decisions seems to be that Francis is listless and does not particularly care about the consequences, positive or negative. Her only possible motivation seems to be a vague curiosity about what might happen.
Naturally making bad decisions without even having a real motivation to do so does not improve Frances' life. Instead her life is transformed from mundanely bad as a result of her own decisions to unusually bad as a result of her own decisions. Frances' boredom and frustration continue to increase as she learns to no one's surprise but her own that her bad decisions have unpleasant consequences, and those consequences continue indefinitely. Throughout the film Frances seems mystified by those consequences, as if they were not utterly foreseeable (e.g. she is constantly recognized and remarked upon after having been on the news for a notorious act, and cannot seem to comprehend why this would be the case). The narrator, who sometimes seems to be speaking for Frances and other times is clearly an outside observer, seems likewise mystified by these consequences, as if they were both too stupid to comprehend basic cause and effect.
Ultimately the film is as boring and passionless as its protagonist, utterly lacking a point.
Other reviewers have suggested that the film is presenting the absurdity of the modern world, relationships, and "the system," and that anyone who does not find it funny and insightful simply doesn't "get it," but of course this is itself absurd. The protagonist isn't some poor soul struggling through a Kafkaesque setting, confronted at every turn by labyrinthine bureaucracy and self-contradictory insanity, presenting her with a never ending Catch 22. At every juncture Frances has the ability to simply do things differently, to make different choices, and instead chooses to make the obviously bad decisions without even having any real motivation to do so. Not a single thing which takes place in the film is unavoidable, inevitable, or even unforeseeable.
In fact, the only absurdity in the film is Frances Ferguson herself, who by virtue of birth has been handed a life most of humanity (now and throughout human history) would kill for a chance at, only to demonstrate a total lack of awareness or appreciation for her own privilege, comfort, and ease. She is a perfect example of utter selfishness, total lack of self-awareness, and a complete and utter failure to take responsibility for herself, her actions, and her life. If this is a state of being the audience can relate to, what kind of a statement does that make about the audience?
The film begins with Frances having made a number of obviously bad decisions, every one of which appears to have been clearly identifiable as a bad decision before she made it (e.g. she married a boy 3 months after they met). The narration describes her as "cast adrift," but clearly no one is the architect of her pointless drift but Frances herself. As the film progresses, Frances continues her series of obviously bad decisions that are clearly identifiable in advance. The reason for all of these bad decisions seems to be that Francis is listless and does not particularly care about the consequences, positive or negative. Her only possible motivation seems to be a vague curiosity about what might happen.
Naturally making bad decisions without even having a real motivation to do so does not improve Frances' life. Instead her life is transformed from mundanely bad as a result of her own decisions to unusually bad as a result of her own decisions. Frances' boredom and frustration continue to increase as she learns to no one's surprise but her own that her bad decisions have unpleasant consequences, and those consequences continue indefinitely. Throughout the film Frances seems mystified by those consequences, as if they were not utterly foreseeable (e.g. she is constantly recognized and remarked upon after having been on the news for a notorious act, and cannot seem to comprehend why this would be the case). The narrator, who sometimes seems to be speaking for Frances and other times is clearly an outside observer, seems likewise mystified by these consequences, as if they were both too stupid to comprehend basic cause and effect.
Ultimately the film is as boring and passionless as its protagonist, utterly lacking a point.
Other reviewers have suggested that the film is presenting the absurdity of the modern world, relationships, and "the system," and that anyone who does not find it funny and insightful simply doesn't "get it," but of course this is itself absurd. The protagonist isn't some poor soul struggling through a Kafkaesque setting, confronted at every turn by labyrinthine bureaucracy and self-contradictory insanity, presenting her with a never ending Catch 22. At every juncture Frances has the ability to simply do things differently, to make different choices, and instead chooses to make the obviously bad decisions without even having any real motivation to do so. Not a single thing which takes place in the film is unavoidable, inevitable, or even unforeseeable.
In fact, the only absurdity in the film is Frances Ferguson herself, who by virtue of birth has been handed a life most of humanity (now and throughout human history) would kill for a chance at, only to demonstrate a total lack of awareness or appreciation for her own privilege, comfort, and ease. She is a perfect example of utter selfishness, total lack of self-awareness, and a complete and utter failure to take responsibility for herself, her actions, and her life. If this is a state of being the audience can relate to, what kind of a statement does that make about the audience?