At times the world seems to be spinning too quickly and we
can’t catch up. Changes happen in the
world around us, and we are stuck somewhere in the past, unable to pull
ourselves up, unable to move. The world
moves around us and we are required to catch up. But can we?
Or will we be stuck in an emotional bog that we can’t pull our feet out
of?
This is the basic question the titular characters of two
wonderful films of 2013 deal with: Blue Jasmine and Frances Ha. The first is written and directed by Woody
Allen, and reflects my favorite kind of Allen films—dramas in which he does not
star. The second is a charming film by
the quirky director Noah Baumbach, who also directed The Squid and the Whale.
Jasmine’s struggles is due to her husband being convicted of
corporate fraud and committing suicide.
She lost everything because many of the corporations were in her
name. She went to live with her sister,
G, who is accepting of her lower social class, while Jasmine insists on making “more”
for herself. Full of wonderful
performances, gets bogged down near the end when the pacing reflects its Allen
source. As long as the performers drive
the script, it is brilliant. Near the
end, it becomes the other way around.
Frances “I don’t do what I do” Halladay, claims this motto because
she is a dancer who is on the edges of a company, but without enough talent to
be a part of it. She holds onto this
dream, even as she holds onto her best friend, Sophie, who is seeking a new
life in a new neighborhood and a permanent boyfriend. As her anchors slip away from her, she is
desperately clutching to her past in a charming manner. In a sense, Frances Ha is a “coming of age”
film for twenty-somethings. It could be
argued that full maturity in our more complicated world requires more time than
in the past to mature, so the time for this film is ripe.
A friend of mine recently reflected that Jasmine might
eventually grow to become Frances. Or,
more pessimistically, the other way around.
However, the two characters are unique enough that I can’t really see
them as the same basic person. They are
both struggling with life change and they are both too revelatory about their
own lives, but while Frances is ultimately optimistic and upbeat, Jasmine is
constantly frustrated and tries to cope by complaining about other people’s
problems.
The question I have is: what hints do these two films give
us when we are struggling with moving on in our lives? (Note, I will frankly speak of the endings of
both films, so spoilers ahead).
Don’t hold onto the past
Ultimately, remaining in the past became Jasmine’s
downfall. She found herself unable to
move on because she was going over and over what she should have said, or what
her husband and son should have done.
Frances has some of the same issues, wanting to hold onto her dream of
being a dancer in the company and staying best friends with Sophie
forever. As long as she desperately
clutched at these ideals, she could never grow as a person.
Accept who you are
We have to accept not only our talents, but also our
weaknesses. While Jasmine was gifted at
fashion and design, she had no aptitude for computers, and she unnecessarily tied
these two things together. When she
started to be interested in Dwight, she gave a false narrative of her life, to
avoid the negativity, which destroyed that relationship. Frances was a gifted
choreographer, but she had no talent as a dancer. Part of Frances’ success is that she accepted
others’ analysis of her abilities and pursued her strengths. Ginger, Jasmine’s sister, also learned to
accept the kind of person she was and to be content with that—yes, she was
lower middle class, and yes, she attracted mechanics instead of engineers, but
that was okay.
Allow relationships to evolve
One of the saddest scenes in Frances Ha is when Frances has
a new roommate, and she was desperately trying to fit this new roommate into
her and Sophie’s relationship. Instead
of growing, Frances was trying to mold others into a pattern she accepts. Frances
had to learn to allow her best friend Sophie to become the person she was
growing into, and not to try to make her fit into the mold of who she used to
be. People change and when they change
they don’t go back, rather they will just continue to move forward until they
don’t resemble the person they were before.
Learn from people around you
Ginger, while having problems of her own, gave Jasmine an
opportunity to learn a new way of life and to accept new kinds of people, which
Jasmine couldn’t accept. Ultimately,
Jasmine’s “standards” equated to snobbery, and when the lifestyle she preferred
was no longer accessible, she couldn’t move on to something else. Frances had to learn not only what others thought
of her, but also the different kinds of lives that were different from
hers. Unfortunately, she had to stop
talking about her struggle and issues and pay attention to the good lives that
were growing around her.
Grab opportunities when they come
Frances finally was able to mature when she accepted the opportunities
that were offered to her. In accepting
this, she had to accept that she wasn’t a dancer and she could no longer have
the relationships she used to have. But
she could build new relationships and she could become a skilled and possibly
celebrated choreographer. Jasmine had an
opportunity of a new life with Dwight, or she could have built a life with
Ginger, but she was so unaccepting of her reality that she built lies that
separated herself from these new lives.
This drove her to the street and insanity.
In this world of constant change, the most important change is
within ourselves.
