Frances is 27, a not-quite-professional dancer in Brooklyn, and her best friend Sophie is moving on without her. Frances bounces between apartments, a Paris trip and her old college, trying to find where she fits. Notice how a cheap black-and-white look makes ordinary city life feel like a classic.
Frances Ha is a 2013 comedy and drama film directed by Noah Baumbach. This breakdown covers 4 techniques (1 sound, 1 narrative and 2 cinematography), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood uses several of the same techniques.
Playing an existing popular song at a precise moment in the film. The song's lyrics, era and associations add irony, period feel or emotion that an original score could not.
How this film uses it
David Bowie's Modern Love plays as Frances runs and dances through the streets. The song gives the scene a wild burst of joy in a film that is otherwise about drifting. The sequence remakes a famous street run from a French film.
Where to see it
Modern Love run: Frances runs and dances down the street to Bowie's Modern Love, in a sequence that remakes a run from Mauvais Sang.
Telling the story as a loose string of separate adventures, often following a low-status hero through different levels of society. With no single plot, the episodes add up to a portrait of a world.
How this film uses it
Frances has no single goal. She moves from Brooklyn to Chinatown, then Sacramento, Paris and back to her old college. The loose chain of episodes adds up to a picture of one person looking for a place.
Where to see it
Paris trip: Frances impulsively flies to Paris, plans badly and gets little from the trip.
Shooting a modern story in black and white so it recalls classic films. The look adds romance and a sense of memory to everyday life.
How this film uses it
The film was shot in black and white to evoke an older New York romance, with a look modeled on the work of Gordon Willis, who shot Woody Allen's films. It was filmed digitally on a Canon EOS 5D Mark II, a consumer stills camera. The old-movie look sits next to scenes of money worries and awkward dinners.
Where to see it
Opening in Brooklyn: Frances and Sophie, fresh from Vassar, move to Brooklyn.
Filming in recognizable real places so the setting acts like part of the cast. Streets, buildings and landscapes shape the mood of the story.
How this film uses it
The small camera rig and minimal lighting let the crew move fast and shoot in several cities cheaply. New York, Sacramento and Paris all feel like places a real person drifts through. The streets and apartments tell you how little money Frances has.
Where to see it
Sacramento Christmas: Frances visits home for Christmas and finds it cozy but stifling, then returns to New York.
Questions
Frances Ha: quick answers
What filmmaking techniques does Frances Ha use?
CineCode breaks down 4 techniques in Frances Ha (2013): Pop Music Needle Drop, Picaresque Structure, Black-and-White Homage and Real Locations as Character.
Who directed Frances Ha?
Noah Baumbach directed Frances Ha, released in 2013. CineCode also covers Marriage Story (2019).
What films are similar to Frances Ha?
Films that share techniques with Frances Ha include Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019), Inherent Vice (2014), Stolen Kisses (1968), Dazed and Confused (1993).
