Frankie – Cannes 2019 Review oneroomwithaview.com/2019/05/22/frankie-cannes-2019-review Tom Bond
22 May 2019
Any film not made for mass audiences is always at risk of sliding into a montage of first world problems, such is the class barrier that remains in the film industry. Frankie is a great example of this pitfall, telling the story of a legendary European film star (Isabelle Huppert, who else?) as she assembles her family of lawyers, bankers, and luxury restaurant owners to help her face her impending mortality. It’s hard to settle into the film even without these white-collar protagonists, with writerdirector Ira Sachs and co-writer Mauricio Zacharias’ awkward, stagey dialogue struggling to introduce the large cast with any kind of grace or subtlety. Sachs’ static directorial style doesn’t help either, blocking the action in flat, wide two-shots and editing clunkily between setups with little imagination. The cast is a real mixed bag, with a few wooden performances it would be rude to name. It may be sacrilege to suggest this, but even Huppert comes off badly – a fault that can largely be ascribed to her attempting the understandably difficult task of mostly performing in a second language. Brendon Gleeson, Marisa Tomei, and Greg Kinnear are much better, bringing some real personality and naturalness to their roles. The latter pair share a standout scene which charts years of character development and emotional change in the space of mere minutes.
1/3