1982 American biographical drama film by Graeme Clifford
Frances is a 1982 American biographical tragedy film directed by Graeme Clifford and written by Eric Bergren, Christopher De Vore, and Nicholas Kazan. The film stars Jessica Lange as Frances Farmer, a troubled actress during the 1930s whose career suffered as a result of her mental illness. It also features Kim Stanley, Sam Shepard, Bart Burns, Christopher Pennock, Jonathan Banks, and Jeffrey DeMunn in supporting roles. The film chronicles Farmer's life from her days as a high school student, her turbulent relationship with her emotionally abusive mother, her short lived film career in the 1930s, her institutionalization for alleged mental illness in the 1940s, her deinstitutionalization in the 1950s and her appearance on This Is Your Life.
Frances was released theatrically on December 3, 1982, by Universal Pictures. Lange's performance was unanimously praised and has been cited by many (including herself) as her best performance. At the 55th Academy Awards, it received two nominations for Lange and Stanley as Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress respectively.
Plot summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.