FRANKIE (2019)- Review

With the first of the big year-end holidays less than a week away, those anxieties about huge family gatherings start to kick in. You know, the old conflicts, the scandals, past injustices. We’d repeat that old phrase, “Save the drama for your mama”, but she’s right in the thick of it. Or in the case of this new film, she’s the orchestrator. Like the ensemble cast holiday flicks, she’s setting the stage for some pre-July Fourth fireworks. But in this one, it’s not a major holiday, and it’s far from the old family home and hearth. So, there’s that “travelogue” element to the tale. Literally this family and a couple of friends come from different ends of the Earth at the request (more than a whim) of the matriarch named FRANKIE.

The title’s actually a nickname for the celebrated international star of stage, screen, and TV, Francoise Cremont (Isabelle Huppert). As the story begins, she’s taking a morning dip in the pool of a swanky exclusive spa/hotel in sunny Portugal. One of her daughters has already checked in, Sylvia (Vinette Robinson), along with hubby Ian (Ariyon Bakare) and teenage daughter Maya (Sennia Nanua). Of course, Frankie doesn’t know that their union has “hit the skids”, much to the annoyance of Maya. They’re soon joined by another grown child from another marriage of Frankie’s (you know those “movie folk”), aimless thirty-something Paul (Jeremie Renner), who may be relocating to NYC after his latest romantic break-up. Down in the nearby village, Frankie’s current husband (maybe #3 or #4) Jimmy (Brendon Gleeson) runs into ex-husband #1 Michel (Pascal Greggory), who has also been summoned to the big family gathering. Ditto for Frankie’s friend from the states, movie star hair-stylist Ilene (Marisa Tomei) who, with her long-time beau, cinematographer Gary (Greg Kinnear), also encounters the two men on the street. The plan is for all of them to join Frankie to watch the sunset from a breathtaking view atop a fabled hill later that day. But in the hours leading up to that viewing, everyone must come to terms with past indiscretions, romantic futures, and (in the case of one person), imminent mortality.

As the main character (hey, she’s in the title) Huppert, with little effort, makes Frankie a most believable “mega-star”, adored by the masses. Guess it helps that she’s been one for the past five decades or so. Mainly, Huppert makes her a tad aloof and distracted as she seems confused about her surroundings. It’s quite different when she’s in full mastermind mold, trying to orchestrate everyone’s lives. Still, we’re asked to endure too many scenes of Frankie doing a riff on “Camille” (yes, we see a full “swoon”). Still, she has more to do than Gleeson who mainly lumbers down the cobblestone streets and dirt trails, his head lowered. His strolling is only interrupted by a clumsy “afternoon delight” sequence. As for the “yanks”, the usually dazzling Tomei is unable to make many of the script’s tired bits of whimsy work (really, a Farrah Fawcett gag). Luckily she must “shift gears” at a pivotal script point, which causes her Ilene to shamble about the greenery with a pained expression while behaving like a selfish toddler. It makes you wonder about the affection Kinnear’s Gary has for her. He’s saddled with the “goofy tourist” bits (we know he loves cameras, but how many shoulder bags must he own), until he’s dismissed as though he’s the “Baxter” in a mawkish “rom-com” (Mr. Kinnear should not have to play the good “bland” boyfriend anymore). Renier as Paul has some of the most cringe-worthy monologues, not helped by his think accent (luckily he speaks with Huppert in subtitled French). And I could have used some of those subtitles for the arguments between Robinson and Bakare as the bickering Brits. At least the radiant Nanua as their daughter brings a bit of life to their tense family dramatics.

With his last two family comedy-dramas, LOVE IS STRANGE and LITTLE MEN, director Ira Sachs proved to have a great year for relationships against a colorful Big Apple backdrop. Now, across the pond, he stumbles with a collision of dull characters who seem to spend most of their screen time walking and talking, when not staring into the horizon with great intent. When they’re not “in motion” the script, which Sachs wrote with Mauricio Zacharias, wraps up the talented cast in a web of ludicrous, pretentious exchanges. Before Ilene behaves like a taunting grade-schooler, Gary does some strained pop-culture name dropping. He says he’s just been in Spain working on STAR WARS (not the “next” STAR WARS or the “new” STAR WARS), then tosses off a bit about how George Lucas will “take him out” if he reveals anything (yes, this film is set in the modern-day). Long sequences don’t “pay off”. Frankie wanders into an outdoor family birthday party, only to sit uncomfortably as the Granny smothers her with praise. Maya meets a local boy and goes with him to the beach as he relates trite bits of his family’s history. But the topper is when two characters meet and just minutes later, one tells the story of his borderline horrific first sexual experience (at least the listener looks as dumbfounded as the audience). Portugal looks lovely even as the cast wrestles with this meandering mopey mess of a movie. Frankly, FRANKIE flops.

1 Out of 4

FRANKIE opens everywhere and screens exclusively in the St. Louis area at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinemas