Friends With Money, Women with Roles

April 18, 2006

Last night Lisa Norton and I went out to see FRIENDS WITH MONEY, the new film by Nicole Holofcener starring Jen Aniston, Fran McDormand, Joan Cusack and are old friend Cath Keener.
Okay. It is not like this is the best film of the year or that it was groundbreaking in any way. Except that it rocked my world. And I feel that it is an important movie for me, an aging actress, and my friends who are also aging actresses to see. Now to be sure, when I say aging actresses I mean that we are from the moment we stop playing 16-22 year olds are aging actresses. I mean that it's something we face everyday and have to accept and understand and that life for the work-seeking actress is often different than the life of the work-seeking actor.
Don't know if I'm making sense here.
Frances McDormand is thrilling in this role. She is playing the very angry woman here and a lesser actress would likely have found herself in a very tricky predicament: an audience full of people who just want her to shut up. But dear Frannie makes us want to shake her, and want to understand her and she's vulnerable and blocked and in pain. It's fucking fabulous. But in addition to this complex character, who is interesting and funny and REAL...Frances McDormand was photographed much of the movie without any make up and with quite visible lines on her face. OK, so this shouldn't be shocking or novel enough to actually mention, but it is. And you know it is. Joan Cusack was also so fucking good in this movie and she (I'm sorry to say it this way) looked even worse than McDormand. But they didn't "look bad" or worse or whatever! They looked gorgeous and real and it was addictive watching them.
So yes, I found myself (and Lisa sadly agreed) staring at Joan, who is in possibly the best shape she's ever been in (that I've seen anyway), and I'm thinking WOW, she doesn't care that her face is big on the screen like this all wrinkly and kind of old looking? And then another voice comes in and says, shut your fucking whole you brain washed dim wit. And that was that. But the first voice was there. Definitely there. Because there is so much shame in growing old for sassy young actresses I think. Oh we have to be forever "desirable", forever young, flirty and yes, FUCKABLE.
But the fact remains, this movie is about women, who have stories, who have complicated realities. And it is so SO important for actresses to see this movie I think and see women of a certain age, up there telling some of their/our stories.
Jennifer Aniston, while it is impossible to believe that she is the one friend who loathes any form of exercise, I think she does a very good job here as the depressed, somewhat sociopathic, pot head, Olivia. I believed her. But it's hard to just put a brown rinse on your hair and then say look how pathetic I am. Her performance is good but I was simply blown away by the older actresses who clearly have more chops.
I don't have a grade for this movie because it was a highly personal experience. I don't even know if I am articulating myself the way I want to...I'll go to bed and see later how I did.