FRANKIE
Ira SACHS — FRANCE, PORTUGAL — 98 minutes
IN A NUTSHELL
Three generations grapple with a life-changing experience during one day of a vacation in Sintra, Portugal. The vacation has been organised by Françoise Crémont, French art-house movie star (Isabelle Huppert), who is revealed to have a terminal illness and doesn’t have long left to live. (words by Bianca Garner)
CRITICAL RESPONSE
“If the sedate, gossamer-thin drama about family and marriage, love and loss lacks the emotional complexity and intense personal investment of Sachs’ best work, its classy old-school art house veneer should help Sony Pictures Classics find an audience for the fall release. That said, this is definitely a second-tier entry from the director, and an odd choice for his debut in the Cannes competition, with the French launch platform amplifying its hint of Rohmer-lite.” — David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter
“A strong cast headed by Isabelle Huppert should make this reasonably saleable. Frankie is likely to appeal to an older sector of the upmarket middlebrow constituency that favoured Call Me By Your Name, although this moody disquisition on love, mortality and making plans is heavy on the lifestyle but low on the sexuality.” — Jonathan Romney, Screen Daily
“At various points we are informed that Frankie is “always” doing this or that which we never really see. The film tries so hard to position Huppert’s character as something larger than life, a shadow under which these characters must now come to terms with no longer living in. The movie’s failing is that you never quite believe it.” — Rory O’Connor, The FIlm Stage
PRIZE PROSPECTS
Better know for Keep the Lights On (2012) and Love Is Strange (2014), American filmmaker, Ira Sachs, is a newcomer to the Cannes Film Festival. His new film, Frankie, has a rather enticing cast, including Isabelle Huppert as the title character. The French actress is a veteran of the Cannes scene, but her recent prolific turns have come in rather mediocre films for the most part.
Sachs’ film has some crowd-pleasing qualities, but does not pack the punch that might be required for the Jury to keep it high on their lists. Even with a charming cast of familiar faces – Greg Kinnear, Marisa Tomei, Jérémie Renier, Brendan Gleeson – Frankie is too far down the pecking order in this year’s official selection. (words by Robin Write)
