Why Should You Watch Frances Ha in Your 20s?

Frances Ha, directed by Noah Baumbach and starring Greta Gerwig, is a sincere yet dreamy dramedy. I can define Frances Ha as a late coming-of-age film, as we observe Frances’ maturement in her late 20s. Frances is a 27-year-old dancer who lives with her best friend, Sophie in New York. One day, Sophie decides to move to another neighborhood in New York. Even though they will be still very close to each other, their friendship starts to go through a rough patch. At the same time, Frances deals with economic and social struggles.

A tale of going back to the tracks

Although Frances Ha introduces the audience the struggles of a woman in her late 20s, her problems reflect many 20-year-olds’ struggles. Being away from your family and from your comfort zone is not easy. You need to manage yourself economically, and you need to be aware of the fact that there are also bad-mannered people. Your family may be there, ready to help you. However, you should not seek help from them every time you fail anymore. Frances is all alone in New York, trying to get her act together. Even though she has a loving family, she does not see them as an immediate recourse.

Besides being nearly broke, she also suffers from estrangement every time she is introduced to a social group. Either she is misunderstood by the people or she does not understand people. This is also a problem related with not being able to get back on track. Her peers either have prestigious titles at work, or they are economically unconstrained. On the contrary, Frances still tries to be a regular member of the dance company that she works as an apprentice.

A mirror to the nowadays struggles of the millennials

Being a twentysomething is perhaps the hardest thing that a millennial or a Gen-Z can face. Today, you cannot find a job easily, and even if you get a job, you cannot afford to buy any large-scale commodities like a house or a car. Because the global economy changed dramatically over the last three decades, it is not a surprise that millennials or older Gen-Zs face with an elongated coming-of-age period. Frances Ha is a sincere manifestation of this elongated period that twentysomethings face. As a 22-year old, I both enjoyed and saw myself throughout the movie.