Frances Ha

21 February 2025

Today is a Thursday. I am usually busy on Thursdays before meeting my advisor on Fridays, partly because I procrastinate and my efficiency only peaks a day or two before our meetings. Today, I’ve wrapped up my work on time, with just enough time left to watch the ending of *Frances Ha*.

This movie was about a girl in her late 20s living in NYC. She did not come from a lot of money, and neither was she making a lot. But she did not seem particularly sad. She was a dancer who liked dancing.

The story began with her best friend moving out. She was not ready for her to move out. But she did. She was soon let go of her dance job while being offered a desk job, which she refused. She jumped around places a few more times, struggling to pay rent, before ending up working in her undergrad university where she “poured” in black tie events. That gig got her a dorm room to stay in.

Her best friend, who had now moved to Japan with her fiancé, was at this event through sheer coincidence. They met. The friend told her about her struggles with her relationship and living in Japan while promising to move back in. Next morning, they went their ways.

Frances, now back in NY, has that job that she did not want before and a mailbox in the apartment building that says her name.

That moment when Frances finally has a mailbox with her name—something so simple, yet deeply symbolic—felt like a quiet victory. She hasn’t exactly “made it” in the conventional sense, but she’s found some stability, a sense of place. It’s a kind of acceptance, isn’t it? Not everything works out the way we want, but life keeps moving, and so do we.

The story has all the colors in black and white.