Frances from Frances Ha is almost 40
It’s been a strange year. I dunno—a strange decade?
Time is weird. My relationship with time is the most stable relationship I have in my life, though it can be a non-consensual one. Not for me, because I like time, but I’m sure that someone, somewhere, doesn’t or didn’t want time to happen (or have happened).
I’m homeless now. Not un-housed--I don’t live on the street—I just don’t have a home anymore.
Benji was my home. We didn’t get divorced, because we were never married in the first place. Which, this is how that conversation went:
BENJI
Marry me, Frances.
FRANCES
No.
BENJI
Why?
FRANCES
Because I don’t want to have to take your last name.
BENJI
What’s wrong with it?
FRANCES
Nothing, I just want my own last name.
BENJI
Then keep it.
FRANCES
So, we’re not getting married?
BENJI
We can get married and keep our own last names.
FRANCES
Then why get married?!
Benji and I dated for a decade (?) overall and it was the bees knees, for the most part, until the very end.
BENJI
I want to see other people
FRANCES
You’re breaking up with me?
BENJI
No, I want to see you and other people.
FRANCES
We’re old. We can’t do stuff like that anymore.
BENJI
Age is just a number, Frances.
FRANCES
It’s not a decade ago anymore!
#
And that was that. At least for then.
I spent some time in Sophie and Patch’s place on the Upper East. They said it was okay even though they had a baby. They moved back to New York City from Japan, and Sophie got back into publishing, with Amazon.
FRANCES
Isn’t Amazon, like, evil?
SOPHIE
Can you put your dish in the dishwasher?
FRANCES
Bezos owns America. And now he owns you.
SOPHIE
I keep asking you to clean your dishes.
PATCH
He’s not that bad.
FRANCES
How can you say that?!
SOPHIE
Frances.
PATCH
We had dinner with him.
FRANCES
What? Sophie!
SOPHIE
Patch!
#
I’m currently subletting a room in Park Slope from an older woman named Charlene. She’s a therapist.
My bedroom is on the second floor of Charlene’s two-story brownstone. She sees clients downstairs with her parrot, Sigmund, perched on her shoulder, and she has potted plants everywhere, most of them dead.
Sometimes, in the off-hours, when I’m in the kitchen, the parrot repeats what Charlene’s clients said during the day.
FRANCES
Charlene, I’m going to use some of your coffee, okay?! I’ll buy some next week!
SIGMUND
Mother, stop! Mother, stop!
FRANCES
(sigh)
#
I didn’t get fired from the dance company. Really! They were going to fire me, but then they went out of business.
After that, I started filming random videos of myself dancing, and then I uploaded the videos to YouTube. No one watched. Well, almost no one.
A couple of weeks later, I was at a Lamaze class down the street. I wasn’t pregnant; they have free snacks.
At the same class was Rachel, a mother of one of the children I used to teach dancing.
RACHEL
How far along are you?
FRANCES
In life?
Rachel and I got to talking, and it turned out that, oh my god, her daughter loved my videos.
Rachel worked for a production company and wanted to bring me on as a full-time client.
RACHEL
Say yes!
FRANCES
Yes! Wait, I get to keep my last name, right?
#
The videos were a hit! I just filmed myself dancing around my apartment and then emailed them to Rachel, who did the rest.
The money was good, at least gooder (not a word) than my money before, if gooder was a word.
I had enough money that I could have moved out of Charlene’s place, but I wanted to save up enough to buy my own place.
Also, I was lonely. I missed Benji’s company anymore, just not him, as a person. And when Charlene wasn’t working, she was out buying new plants.
I started to spend a lot of time hanging out with Sigmund, Charelene’s parrot, which could be depressing.
FRANCES
Sigmund, what should I do with my life?
SIGMUND
I wanted to kill her, but I let her go.
FRANCES
(sigh)
I needed to get out! Either outside or out of my place. I could be inside as long as I was somewhere else.
I danced and skipped down the street to Brooklyn’s newest escape room.
I was almost there when someone said my name. I turned around. It was a little girl.
FRANCES
Are you lost? I get lost a lot. I know where I am, but I don’t know how to find myself.
LITTLE GIRL
Daddy, look, it’s Frances!
Standing in front of me was the most beautiful man I had ever seen. He introduced himself as Steven.
STEVEN
My daughter loves your videos. Well, we both do.
#
Steven and I started dating, and we fell in love. We were even talking of moving in together.
Then, one day as I was walking back home, who did I see but Lev (the guy who looks like Adam Driver) standing outside my place.
Lev’s dad has lost all his money to crypto, so Lev had lost all of his money, too
LEV
Hey, kid.
FRANCES
Where have you been?
LEV
Good.
FRANCES
How have you been?
LEV
Around.
Leve invited himself in, and before I could say anything, he was already in my bedroom, lying on my bed.
LEV
This is like that scene from Moonlight.
FRANCES
I haven’t seen it.
LEV
Whaatt?! I was almost in it.
FRANCES
Really?
LEV
Can I stay over?
I made Lev leave. After he did, I called Steven immediately to tell him what happened. He was very understanding.
I then called Sophie, not expecting her to answer. She answered.
I didn’t know what to say.
FRANCES
Sup, yo!
I then asked if she could find Lev a job.
She said she’d think about it. She also had news for me, and an invitation.
#
Amazon had bought the New York Public Library, where Sophie’s biggest client, Taylor Swift, was doing a reading from her memoir. Steven and I showed up just as Taylor started reading.
I couldn’t find Sophie anywhere, then I finally saw her. We caught each other’s eye. We both smiled at each other, then I held up my left hand, to show her my ring.
Sophie put her hand over her mouth and started crying. That’s when I saw Lev, who was holding Sophie’s bag. He handed Sophie a tissue.
Someone tapped my arm. It was Benji, in a waiter’s jacket.
FRANCES
Benji! But what happened? Didn’t Gremlins 5 get picked up?
BENJI
The movie business is over, Frances. Didn’t you read the latest Harper’s?
FRANCES
I’ve been busy.
BENJI
I can see that. Now, can I get you two anything to drink?
FRANCES
We’ll have Love. On the house.