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Frances Ha (2012): Someone Else’s New York
Noah Baumbach’s film Frances Ha explores the life of Frances Halladay, a twenty-seven-year-old dancer navigating her identity in New York post-friendship. Shot in black and white, it contrasts her vibrant, chaotic journey against a nostalgic aesthetic, revealing the tensions between her personal experiences and the filmmaker’s cinematic homage to male-dominated narratives.
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The Worst Person in the World (2021): The Authored Life
Joachim Trier made a film about a woman resisting the feeling that her life is being written for her. He did not notice what he was doing with his chapter titles. I. Julie Tries Medicine, Then Doesn’t, Which the Film Presents as Self-Knowledge II. Julie Tries Photography, Which Is Closer But Still Someone Else’s Idea…
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The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985): The Cycle Continues
Woody Allen’s The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985) examines the relationship between cinema and those who seek solace in it. The film portrays Cecilia, a waitress who finds escapism in film, ultimately facing disappointment when reality intrudes. Its poignant conclusion, while beautiful, reflects the same escapism it critiques, revealing the bittersweet nature of both fiction…
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Grand Illusion (1937): What Class Permits You to Keep
Jean Renoir made the most generous war film in cinema history. The generosity was not distributed equally, and the film does not know this. PRISONER INTAKE RECORD — WINTERSBORN CAMP Name: de Boeldieu, Capt. Items confiscated: None of consequence. Items retained: White gloves. Monocle. The habit of command, carried so naturally it no longer requires…
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Paths of Glory (1957): The Officer’s Trench
Kubrick made the most morally certain film of his career. That certainty is also the film’s most precise limitation. — Distance Château to the front line 4.3 kilometres Defendants’ table to judges’ bench 12 metres Execution post to the courtroom wall 400 metres Camera to Kirk Douglas’s face, courtroom 18 inches Camera to Corporal Paris’s…