FEATURE:
Needle Drops and Scores to Settle
Scene One: Modern Love: Frances Ha (2013)
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I am not sure…
whether this new series has legs, though I am really interested in exploring some great film scores and soundtracks. I guess we have to differentiate between the two. The soundtrack is the songs that appear in films. Most films take older songs and combine them, though some do have original tracks. The score is more the non-vocal music, whether it is Classical or another genre. Songs can be diegetic – you hear them played in a scene by a character(s) – or they appear over the top of a scene. When the music is released to buy on vinyl or C.D., normally the score and songs will feature as one, though some films that have a score and soundtrack separate them. I am going to look at some great and classic examples of great scores and or soundtracks. I don’t think there are as many genuinely standout ‘needle drop’ moments in modern cinema (though many would challenge me on that). That is when filmmakers use a pre-existing song to underscore a scene and, more importantly, to emphasise it. I am partly inspired by Mark Kermode’s must-read and excellent book, Mark Kermode's Surround Sound: The Stories of Movie Music:
“How can a film score make you cheer, shiver, cry or punch the air?
How do directors communicate their musical vision to composers?
And when does a soundtrack take on a life of its own?
In Mark Kermode's Surround Sound the award-winning film critic, together with radio producer Jenny Nelson, embarks on a full-throttle trip down the glorious rabbit hole of film composition.
Celebrating the emotional connection that audiences form with film music, exploring the evolution of film scoring from silent films to the present day, and examining how what we hear has an impact on what we see, Mark talks to some of his favourite composers and delves into the movie music he loves”.
Maybe it is subjective, but there is something about a genuinely wonderful film score and soundtrack that stays with you. Some are undeniable classics, whereas others may be less obvious. I am starting out by covering the soundtrack of my all-time favourite film first, as it is notable because of its effective use of music. Frances Ha was premiered in 2012 at the Toronto International Film Festival, but it came out in the U.S. and U.K. in 2013. You can watch on Amazon Video, BFI Player or Apple TV+. The film employs some recognisable contemporary songs – well, it does have its heart in the 1970s and 1980s, so they are fairly old I guess -, but there is also this use of lesser-known French Classical music from earlier in the century. Directed by Noah Baumbach and co-written with its star, Greta Gerwig, the film centres around the semi-eponymous heroine, a twenty-seven-year-old dancer in New York, and her navigating life. When her best friend Sophie Levee moves out, Frances is left to fend for herself. She experiences new adventures in the city, where she also finds love and makes a decent living.
I have written about the film before and how it struck me. Almost identifying with Greta Gerwig’s heroine and that quest and struggle to find your feet and place. Maybe not as grown-up or far ahead as you should be. It is such a charming film where you root for Frances and are on her side, though you have to question whether this is someone you should always be rooting for, considering some of her actions and decisions. The chemistry between its leads, Greta Gerwig and Mickey Sumner (who plays Sophie Levee), is incredible. Also in the main cast are Michael Zegen (Benji), Adam Driver (Lev Shapiro), Grace Gummer (Rachel) and Charlotte d'Amboise (Colleen). Shot in black-and-white and filmed on-the-fly and covertly and quickly – owing to a restricted budget and not having permission to film through a lot of New York -, it has this immediacy to it. However, it feels like a film you can sit with and absorb. There is plenty of precision and scenes that took multiple takes to get down. Testament to the direction of Noah Baumbach and the writing of Baumbach and Gerwig that there is a seamless marriage of the loose and honed. I said Greta Gerwig played the semi-eponymous heroine, as the film is named Frances Ha, because her surname is Halladay. I have seen reviews misspell and get her surname wrong for some reason (which makes you wonder if they made it to the end of the film or just have poor eyesight). It is even wrong on Amazon Video!. At the end of the film, when Frances gets her own place and is preparing a strip of paper/card to go in the mail cubby/compartment alongside the other residents, her full name does not fit in the small slot. So she folds the paper and it spells out ‘Frances Ha’.
IMAGE CREDIT: Mondoshop
I will talk about the film more generally in the future. However, its use of popular music and instrumentals/score is wonderful! Perhaps the most notable needle drop moment is a scene where the camera finds and catches up to Frances as she dances and runs through the streets of New York (Chinatown, to be more precise) to David Bowie’s Modern Love (taken from his 1983 album, Let’s Dance). Gerwig revealed how Modern Love fitted into Frances Ha: “Great pop music, when it’s over, you just want to play the song again right away,” says Gerwig. “We talked about wanting the movie to feel like a pop song. When it’s over, there’s a feeling of, “Put it on again”. I would love to get a complete soundtrack and score from this film. There is a selection of songs from the film available on a U.S. website. I am desperate to see this soundtrack expanded and reissued on Neon Pink vinyl and available to buy in the U.K., as the music is one of the big reasons why Frances Ha is such an affecting and mesmeric film! The reason for shooting it in black-and-white, as Noah Baumbach explained, was to make it this instant classic. How there was nostalgia to a film set in modern times. Frances Ha was released to theatres in 2013, though it is a film that seems like it could have been set in the 1960s or 1970s. The soundtrack, I feel, features popular music from this time as I feel that is where its heart is. Also, the use of New Wave compositions by composers like Georges Delerue and Jean Constantin is wonderous. The film does take us to Paris near the end – Frances goes there for only a couple of days or so and really doesn’t do much (she takes sleeping pills and oversleeps, fails to meet up with friends for dinner after they picked up her voice messages late, and the wasted trip lands her in debt) -, but you don’t know that at the start of the film. In some ways you do get this mix of modern-day U.S. cinema and 1960s and 1970s New Wave French cinema.
The loveable-but-flawed Frances and her friendship with Sophie is the core of the film. Sophie moving on and getting engaged/married to Patch (he is a character that Frances never really gels with and wonders why Sophie is with him) and has a publishing job – she briefly moves to Japan with Patch -, whilst Frances is an apprentice at a dance company and is over-dependant on her friend. It is almost like this childhood friendship and, when one of them moves and sees goes away, there is this jealously and anger. However, Frances has a good heart and loves her friend! The music beautifully scores the film and heightens the scenes. The New Wave pieces are simultaneously sweeping, quirky and exciting. I had never heard of these French composers before. The use of Hot Chocolate’s Every 1’s a Winner during the sojourn to Paris is inspired. I wonder why that particular song was selected. Maybe it is irony. How Frances is losing out and failing. That comedic edge that you get through repetition of the chorus! Paul McCartney’s Blue Sway (a song that was not included on his 1980 album, McCartney II for some reason) is a gorgeous deep cut used to brilliant effect in the background in Lev and Benji’s apartment when Frances is there. She is asked to give them a dance move, to which she reluctantly agrees. Chrome Sitar from T. Rex this brilliant needle drop following a funny scene where Dan (France’s boyfriend) tries to get her to move in but she cannot, as she was supposed to renew her lease with Sophie. The scene ends on a comedic note and we cut to Frances entering a party with a bottle of beer as Chrome Sitar plays. Whereas a lot of filmmakers go for bigger and more obvious songs, it is this decision to go with slightly less obvious choices from well-known artists that makes the soundtrack so nuanced and fascinating. Maybe that was a budgetary thing and they could not get permission or afford other tracks. However, Modern Love and its use during that iconic scene is a standout. This quarter-life crisis that Frances is facing. How she seems to wander and can’t seem to commit or find her way. The soundtrack and score could have been too offbeat, jarring, maudlin or quirky. Instead, we get this perfect blend of dynamics and emotions. The music, whilst occasionally diegetic – that scene at the apartment (where Blue Sway plays), the party directly after the breakup, and Frances premiering her own production/performance piece near the end are examples -, is mostly played like a score. It is used over scenes and is never intrusive or misplaced. Everything beautifully selected.
When Frances runs to an ATM to get some cash during a dinner with Lev; a moment when she and Sophie are sharing lunch together and you get a swell of Stanislas et Camille by Hugh Wolff & London Sinfonietta. This feature from 2022 marked ten years of the first collaboration between Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach (they are married and have been working together on and off ever since; the most recent time being for 2023’s Barbie). Essentially a series of vignettes, I have highlighted sections of the feature that discusses how the music is used to great effect throughout Frances Ha:
“Both Gerwig and director Noah Baumbach aspired to make the film feel loose and unchoreographed, while having each scene be the opposite – choreographed to the finest detail. Some scenes would need 40 takes before they were finished, with Baumbach suggesting that often their attempt to get “many pages to work in one shot” may have resulted in perfectionism coming into play.
The film’s soundtrack follows her movements too, as she traipses from New York to Paris. In New York, strings and piano accompany Frances’ life, the lightness of the instrumentals perfectly suiting a character living in her own world. While in Paris, Hot Chocolate’s ‘Every 1’s A Winner’ gnaws at her, playing over an extended montage of her making her way through the city and amplifying the dissonance between her perception of the world and reality. The music choices represent a daydream-like fantasy that is on the verge of collapse.
Teased by Sophie for never being able to account for her bruises, Frances is clumsy yet charming.Though in a sense a romcom, the romantic treatment that the film gets does not result in the traditional outcome that audience members expect from the trope. There is no love interest who sweeps her off her feet, nor is there a sudden change in context where she’s met fulfilled dreams. Acknowledging it’s more common to compromise happiness to realise one’s dreams than to compromise dreams to be happy, the film navigates the lens of romance through a discovery of new dreams.
The dialogue alone is reason enough to watch the film. Written with a wispy sense of humour, scenes like Frances offering to shout her friend Lev dinner after receiving an unexpected tax refund are delectable. “I’m so embarrassed, I’m not a real person yet,” Frances tells Lev, after finding out the restaurant they’re at only takes cash or credit – both of which she lacks. She proceeds to run outside the neighbourhood, trying to find an ATM to save face, all the while being accompanied by Jean Constantin’s ‘L’Ecole Buissonnière’ . This song first played in the soundtrack of Les quatre cents coups (1959), a coming of age film that defined the New Wave cinema movement. Deftly borrowed by Baumbach for this sequence, the music pays homage to this era with utmost sincerity.
Homage is further paid to French New Wave through the black and white presentation of the film, as well as the use of soundscapes from older films to echo the melancholy of losing friendships and youth. Contrasting that aspect of the film is the costume design, which largely celebrates and mirrors youth. Sprightly optimism is expressed through white and polka dots, while signs of maturity are donned in darker tones like black jackets and solid-coloured dresses.
The film is polished and pristine, strung in a patchwork of episodeswith the utmost of care. In its style and construction, every beat in every sequence is lined with the spirit of youth and sells moments of joy and connection authentically. Baumbach and co-writer/lead actress Gerwig ended up falling in love with one another on set, which is both a beautiful sentiment in and of itself as well as a testament to the tenderness and affection that eminates from the film.
In an interview with the Criterion Collection, Baumbach stated, “I think intuitively with the black and white and the music, I had this feeling that we would kind of celebrate the kind of romance and the energy and the spirit of New York City and being young, and how good that can feel.” This film paints the human experience in an offbeat fashion and deserves many replays in 2022. Exhibiting the comfort of a ‘wrapped-under-blankets’ movie, Frances Ha is a hopeful story for those who may feel like they’re drifting through life, without an anchor. It’s a reminder to not take things too seriously and that there is charm in the unknown”.
I will wrap in a minute. There is not as much as there should be written about a truly great soundtrack. This feature from 2017 is interesting and insightful. One of the big reason why Frances Ha is my favourite film is because of the music. How it used to heighten scenes, add comedy, romance and pathos. How you get a perfect blend of genres and moods that score emotions and internal monologues. It would be tantalising to think about a follow-up to the film and see where as the characters ended up:
“Music is an integral part of creating her internal fantasy. The twinkling, carefree instrumentals provide the lens with which we experience Frances’s world - or at least a more gilded version of how she envisions herself living in it. In tandem with the film’s precise editing and Greta Gerwig’s tremendous performance, the music choices make her everyday life a daydream that’s headed towards an inevitable collapse.
Haven't we all wanted this version of friendship, this kind of youth? Where even the inconveniences or struggles are charming? It’s an illusion we can be sink into, but never trust as a true depiction of her full reality. When music does exists in Ha’s real world, it’s either unheard (“aren’t these headphones the tits?”) or pale, like the hometown church service.
But that optimism runs out to hilarious effect as Hot Chocolate’s “Every 1’s A Winner” haunts Frances’s misguided trip to Paris. Baumbach would later use the same band to explore the delusion of another Gerwigian New Yorker in Mistress America, but here it's sequence specific. Like the rest of the film’s musical fantasy, this song sounds exactly like what we imagine from a spontaneous jaunt to Paris: glamorous fun in a blur of sexiness. The song stops and starts over the extended montage, as if Frances is listening to it on repeat in some effort to lift her mood.
Except each time it plays it only highlights to increasing distance between her rose-colored glasses and her depressive reality. The title alone is giddy in taunting Frances at her lowest, an added insult that we dance along as her isolation deepens. “Everyone’s a winner, baby, that’s the truth” - except for her. Frances Ha gets labeled as Baumbach’s sweetest film, but this sequence is as acerbic as he’s ever been.
It’s a long way off from how Baumbach employs David Bowie’s “Modern Love”, a disco musing on restless unintended stagnation in its own right:
There’s no sign of life
It’s just the power to charm
I’m lying in the rain
But I never wave bye-bye
But I try, I try
Like Frances’s failures, it should be depressing but its affectation of feeling is too convincing. It’s an exacting song choice because Bowie just wants us to dance along and Frances just wants to dance, literally and metaphorically. Plus, it’s a banger that can’t be denied - you should want to relent to the feeling here, and “Modern Love” demands you to move. That iconography of a twirling, leaping Gerwig hurtling herself through the New York City streets (minus any oncoming traffic) is as pure a distillation of feeling like you can overtake the world as your heart can handle. Of course, the real world crashes the party.
And she tries, she tries. When the song returns over the closing credits, it’s after another brisk bit of montage showing that she’s gotten her shit together. What’s doubly meaningful in the film’s reusing of the same music when Frances goes from mess to stable is how it tells us we don’t have to sacrifice our core self in order to grow up. The Frances that was led solely by the best version of her life can be equally as alive and sunnily disposed by the realest version too. And perhaps it’s more special because the real is much simpler”.
I would urge anyone who has not seen Frances Ha to view it. A million miles away from what Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach would do with the huge-budget Barbie, this 2013-released slice of gold has this modesty and Indie feel. Beautifully written, acted and directed, I think it is topped off with a brilliant soundtrack. For further reading and insight, check out reviews of Frances Ha from The Guardian, Cinema from the Spectrum, The New York Times, The New Yorker, Empire, BFI, and The New Republic. I think the soundtrack deserves its own reviews! These wonderful and interesting French New Wave pieces together with some well-placed and selected Pop tracks. One of these lost classics, I hope that a Neon Pink version of this soundtrack is reissued on vinyl. It would be a perfect way to introduce new fans to the glorious music…
FEATURED in Frances Ha.