Saint Frances is
my kind of movie. It didn’t end the way movies normally end. Here, even when
our lead gets a breakthrough, there isn’t an automatic change in lifestyle. She
doesn’t immediately find a guy or run back to an old one to define herself.
Her meeting
Frances did change her life, but in a way that made her appreciate it.
For me, the
movie is about learning to roll with the punches. I enjoyed her conversation
with her mom, which made her appreciate existence. Then, she discovers herself,
without losing the lessons she has gathered along the way. The movie delves
into very weighty issues like pregnancy, abortion, postpartum depression, and
employer–employee dynamics.
How talking is
one way to deal with things instead of just trying to wish it all away.
The movie is
about Bridget, who is 34 years old and not in any relationship. She’s having
the challenge of finding what works for her when it comes to relationships,
without having to lie about who she is. Bridget wants a new job and applies for
one as a nanny to a lesbian couple. She eventually gets the job and is told she
is employed to care for their first child, Frances.
Frances is six,
and she is very inquisitive and troublesome. One of her mothers just gave birth
to another child, and she is struggling to deal with it. Frances and Bridget’s
relationship starts and develops the same way a nanny–child relationship goes, but
Bridget has her own challenges. She started a purely sexual relationship with a
man and gets pregnant. Bridget is someone who doesn’t want a child, and this
situation is tense for her. She believes that abortion is the way for her.
The movie
handles all the challenges at once, moving from one to the other with grace.
Kudos to Kelly O’Sullivan, who plays Bridget and wrote the screenplay for this
movie. I don’t know if this movie is somehow biographical, but it does feel
like it is. It touches on the subjects softly and guides the viewer with a cool
musical score, making the movie go down well.
Here’s a movie I
hope won’t be one of those that many people overlook because there is no
big-name writer, actor, or director attached to it. Some of the best movies
don’t have those. Worth seeing if you have not yet seen it.
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