Even with a surprisingly good performance by Halle Berry, Frankie & Alice makes a great melodrama-of-the-week but never proves itself Oscar-worthy.
After a series of blackouts – in particular one where she finds herself lying in the middle of an intersection, Frankie (Berry), a 1970s exotic dancer ends up in the loony house where she is diagnosed with multiple personality disorder. Dr. Joseph Ozwald (Skarsgård) picks up the case and works to uncover Frankie’s alter personalities in order to bring her life back to normalcy.
But Dr. Oz’s quest to “fix” Berry is just not difficult enough. Frankie & Alice severely lacks conflict and in doing so, it makes everything fall into place too easily. The people are too cooperative. The go-go dancers and Frankie’s sister and mother too willingly divulge information about Frankie to Oz, who is a complete stranger to them. And Oz easily tracks down Frankie’s whereabouts when she is prematurely discharged from the clinic.
Even the alters are angels compared to other MPD movies. For instance, in The Nutty Professor movies, Sherman Klump’s alter ego Buddy Love is a monstrous nemesis who literally fights Sherman to overtake his persona.
I’m not asking for a supernatural brawl like this one, but in Frankie & Alice, Alice – the forceful, racist alter ego – too easily complies with Oz’s wishes. Oz never has any trouble conjuring up any of Frankie’s alters.
Also, many pieces of the story fit together too tightly — Frankie just “senses” that Oz likes to buy tuna sandwiches, Oz just happens to see a video monitor around the same time when Frankie wants to see her alters, the radio a nurse turns on just happens to play the exact song that triggers a memory from Frankie’s past, and so on. The simplest path out of conflict is coincidence and Frankie & Alice veers down this path way too often.
The story is also bogged down by its cookie-cutter formula that has all the clichés of a psychiatric ward — troubled-looking patients, the obligatory strait-jacket struggle. The B-story of Oz’s failed marriage is hardly executed. And loose ends like Frankie’s rent check are not tied up.
But there are bright spots amongst the conflict-shy, formulaic plot. Berry’s performance as a child genius, a Southern belle, and a feisty go-go dancer was convincing. She handled the challenging material quite well and was even entertaining to watch. Vanessa Morgan also gave a satisfying performance as a younger Frankie.
The combination of these performances highlights the only strong point of the plot: the love story. Perhaps the movie should have focused more on its real conflict: the social impossibility of two people, one black and one white in the pre-Civil rights, segregated South to be in love. Maybe then the story would have given these actresses more of a nudge and Berry would have found her way back to the Oscar podium.
[sws_green_box box_size=”580″]Director: Geoffrey Sax
Stars: Halle Berry, Stellan Skarsgård, Phylicia Rashad, Chandra Wilson
Runtime: 100 minutes
Genre: Drama [/sws_green_box]
Halle Berry! O I liked this movie a whole lot. I think I would agree that it wasn’t Oscar worthy but it was still a great film for me. I thought Halle Berry’s performance was impeccable and yes, just maybe, things were a little put together. But overall, I think if you have Nicole Lawrence, Annette Bening, Nicole Kidman and Williams whose perfromances were below par in comparison to Natalie Portman, who won, then I think they could have thrown Halle Berry in there at no cost!
Let me start by saying I’m not a Halle Berry hater. I’ve just never liked any of her movies. Catwoman and Perfect Stranger were horrible! After seeing them I can’t imagine that this one would be worthy of an Oscar. But I know some people love her. So that’s just my opinion.
Lol. Oscar? For who? Wait a second. Are we talking about the same movie and Halle Berry? Yes, Catwoman was horrible and so was this movie. I don’t think they write women very good roles. I remember Jolie in Salt and that was another disaster. Female hero movies are generally horrible but the drama stuff has always been on point. That’s why I expected Halle Berry to live up to it in Frankie ans Alice. I don’t blame her entirely since the script itself sucks. But this was not an Oscar role in any measure of the word.
Hi Ann, do you think Geoffrey Sax only provides a pedestrian filmmaking effort here? For example by refusing to step in Berry’s way as she abuses her multiple characters? I wonder if in the hands of a stronger/better director, the material (credited to 9 writers) might could’ve sniffed out a more absorbing, soulfully persuasive flow of realism and aggravation side stepping each other like say in the Exorcist?
Nice work Ann! But I want to know what you think of Halle Berry playing these opposing characters. Since the tv movie Sybil (1973) it’s been difficult for anyone to make a movie like this. When people try it you get the Exorcist or The Nutty Professor, you know what I mean. So is this kind of role, something that people feel is an opportunity to excel since it’s so complicated, the quintessential actors’ opportunity or the quintessential actor’s trap?
I don’t know why Frankie is the ghetto girl with an edge! This isn’t something Halle Berry has trouble playing though(Jungle Fever, Monster’s Ball). God knows why. But even she can’t get most out of this movie. And then the Alice character, Frankie’s alter ego who’s supposed to be a sophisticated southern white woman who’s both racist and anti-Semitic is just simply and accidentally hilarious! I was cracking up. Seriously.
Do you think the 16-year-old Frankie suffered a great trauma worthy of the grandest of black woman melodramas such as Imitation of Life, The Color Purple, Waiting to Exhale, and of course, Precious?
I should definitely see this move. Thanks for the review!
@Patrick, probably more of an actor’s trap like you suggest. For a more complicated role work everything has to be come together: acting, directing, writing. I’d put a lot of emphasis on the script when a complicated role falls short, because if the execution is poor in the script, the whole project suffers. Is it really possible to make a good movie with a not-so-good script?
@Ano I can’t say that Sax’s directing was at all memorable and I’m not sure a good director could have made the film any better working the script. And like you mentioned, nine credited writers is never a good sign.
@Kukrudu so many black melodramas! In truth, they all seem pretty traumatic, so it’s hard for me to decide who had it the hardest. I think we need some different genres or even happy black movies (just without cross dressers).
Feel free to chime in on any of these questions. I definitely don’t have all the answers!