Fran

Australian writer/director Glenda Hambly presents the title character, flaws and all, a mother who acts to effectively abandon her children in favor of a romantic life. However what saves Fran from condemnation is the great empathy created by the performance of Noni Hazelhurst. Hazelhurst isn't afraid to present Fran as stupid or ugly or child-like, her desperation highlighted in the scene where she begs her husband not to leave her alone with her children in suburbia. She also makes Fran's anger at the child welfare agency she calls the "Department of Good Intentions" funny, revealing an arrested development based on her own history of being a foster child.

Hambly's sad tale portrays the repetitive nature of abuse, with Fran acting the same way her mother did, and the accusation that her new boyfriend Jeff (Alan Fletcher) having abused Fran's eldest daughter Lisa (Narelle Simpson) aligned with Fran telling us that Jeff's father abused him. In the final image of Lisa, Hambly also suggests that she too will continue the cycle. The treatment stops us from viewing Fran as a tragic victim, since we don't see her trying to work whilst her children are at school, when her pride makes her refuse her to accept government support. The misanthropy of Fran's neighbor, Marg (Annie Byron, also an abandoned mother, doesn't progress into lesbianism, but whilst Marg's assessment of the men in Fran's life is correct, it still reads as a sign of resignation by Marg. Misguided Fran's priorities may be, but the idea that she needs a individual life apart from her children is valid.

The lighting in a fight scene is perhaps too dark to conceal the violence, but later Hazelhurst looks incredibly beautiful in a moment of reaction to Jeff.

This director really is like a low rent ken Loach/mike Leigh. Unfortunately, FRAN, has none of the cinematic prowess or complex politics that make the English masters rise above the kitchen sink.

The film is nothing more than TELEVISION drama. Turgid script, stolid story arc, overwrought drama. The characters speak their truth in a way that is unrealistic and terribly daytime television.

The writer aims so hard to invest complex stakes in the story that the characters are forced (like puppets) to react dramatically to the events. Because of this reliance on the motivating stakes of the story, the characters have no internal world. And certainly the cinematic world created is nothing short of ordinary.

Unfortunate that the creators of this stinker are now at the helm of deciding the future of Australian cinema. Perhaps therein lies the problem with the sort of scripts and directors being encouraged by Australian funding bodies.

These were great, these movies, back in the day. Now we don't see these kind of Ozzie greats, anymore, films of such frank realism and Fran is basically one of these that stares you straight in the face, and it's quite impossible to look away. I really like this movie a lot, and again we're reminded of just what a powerfully great actress, Noni is. She plays a mother, whose had a really bad trot through life, and has been through the wars. As a kid she was fostered out, and in a cruel irony, she had fostered one of her own kids out, her older kid daughter. She manages 3 kids, her real piece of s..t hubby is in prison. Her current, abusive ass...e boyfriend, Ray, and father figure to her kids, who she hardly sees, is away, mining. Her solace and relief is in her best friend, next door, Marge (Byron) a wise survivor, and former wife of Ray's, so it seems, which for her, has put a damper of critical cynicism of all men. Fran is a mess, a mother, of irresponsibility, the bottle, and abandonment. She does night pub prowls, a sex magnet to the naked male eye, looking for a new man, and sights her next one (a familiar Neighbors face) a relief, but one of misfortune later, you'll find out. This is a very entertaining drama, with some sad/verge tearing moments. It starts off with flavor in it's opening, involving a stalking creep. The film is really well made, and has great, real acting, Noni again, is great as always, but it's the confronting, sheer raw realism of the film that bites you on the a..s. Fran has another Oz 80'S which warrants, and deserves your attention, especially fans of Oz pics. Colorfully entertaining drama, that you can't turn away from.