This is, to all intents and purposes, a lengthy essay on the themes portrayed within both films. Hence the mock-exam question-title-joke-thing. As such, there are massive spoilers for both films, so please don't read it unless you've seen both. And please see Frances Ha. Please. It's brilliant.
Also leaking in cinemas for those willing to hunt out the more interesting films is my very favourite film of 2013 so far, Frances Ha. An honest and self-aware portrait of female friendship, it's a film that dips and twists as the characters begin to work out who they are, by their own admission too late in their life. It focuses on just the two characters, really, although a larger ensemble is at play, in Frances (Greta Gerwig) and Sophie (Mickey Summer), as they put it "The same person with different hair". Their relationship is charming and glistens through the film. However, as the film develops, the relationship twists as circumstances develop. Frances and Sophie begin to drift apart, but something always seems to be tying them together, be it past experience or something more metaphysical. The thematic similarities between Frances Ha and The Worlds' End are bountiful, both studies of human relationships and friendships that run deeper than the respective films would have you believe.
At the heart of The Worlds' End are the characters of Gary King (Pegg) and Andy Knightley (Frost). Gary has refused to grow up, trapped, as the film's official synopsis puts it, "at the cigarette end of his teens". He's a man who uses Primal Scream lyrics as not just a life mission, but as a way of communicating basic human desires, for crying out loud. The character is totally obnoxious, a contrast with Frances, a character filled with the joy of humanity and a never-dwindling optimism. Like Gary, Frances hasn't moved on as she should, although in her case it's since she started university. While everyone around her, in their swanky New York apartments are getting successful jobs and beginning to find partners and settle down, Frances isn't. This isn't how she sees the world or what she wants to do. She's still enamoured with the life she lives with her best friend, Sophie. The film even opens with her breaking up with her boyfriend because, even though she doesn't say this outright, she can't bear the thought of not living with her. When Sophie herself begins to move on, it shakes Frances, an the film is essentially us watching her recover, but also watching Sophie recover, as she realises perhaps their relationship is stronger than any other. Likewise, Gary and Andy's relationship begins to rekindle with such strength despite all the reasons Andy has to hate Gary, suggesting their relationship is ironclad and unbreakable, no matter how badly Gary ODs and Andy crashes.
Frances Ha looks at female friendship, while The Worlds' End is more interested in male relationships. This is the key difference between the two films thematically. Frances and Sophie have a telepathic understanding, sharing the preachiness and the kookiness that many have found annoying. It's a shared lifestyle, that Frances falls out of when she visits her parents. She returns to being a 'normal' human being, yet when with other peers she tries to recreate her relationship with Sophie, rarely with any success. Her attempt with the blonde dancing friend is the most notable example; her playfighting episode becomes one of the films more layered scenes. What at first appears to be a comic farce can just as easily be read as a sign of how much Frances is struggling with her 'break up' with Sophie. Gary, in the same way, appears to be struggling with no longer seeing Andy- The first thing he talks about at his therapy session at the start of the film is his childhood friends, potentially because he's never had any others, because he's never gone any further. Andy, however, has a wife and a successful job in his own right, and no longer has to think about Gary. The pain experienced when his childhood friend rocks up at his office is notable and tragic. The overdose/drink-driving/car crash episode that ruined their relationship still hangs large for him, as it doesn't for Gary. Perhaps he's forgotten because he must, because he has no other life, so he ignores the moment he messed up all he had. In remembering from the off he had to pay Andy £600, before he's even heard he doesn't drink anymore from Peter, he's gone looking to recover the money and pay him back. The guilt hangs high on his conscience, but Gary King doesn't allow himself anywhere near his conscience most of the time. Frances Ha follows a similar pattern. As they drift apart, with the best friend getting married, it's lead character Frances that struggles. She lies and she fakes, but she can't get her life in order without Sophie, no matter how she feels about her at any given moment in the film.
The male nature of Andy and Gary's relationship makes it a quieter, subtler one than the bombastic telekentic NYC women of Frances Ha. Whereas Frances and Sophie openly admit they love each other regularly throughout the film, building up to the beautifully set-up ending, as the pair catch each others eyes across the room, that really goes some way to saying something about the nature of human relationships and whether they have to fit our pre-concieved ideas of what a relationship should be. Gary, in his opening monologue, does say "I supposed I did" love Andy, but it's off-hand, and he'd never say it to his face. The need for both characters to be 'men' means they would never tell the other, save for dire circumstances- Andy begins to try and articulate this at the final pub, the titular Worlds' End, although Gary seems not to understand, potentially because he isn't ready to admit how he feels about their relationship. Just as Steven is victorious over Gary the race to win over Sam by admitting his love, Gary isn't able to consolidate his affections through words, even to someone who he does label "The best friend I've ever had" (Although, considering the rest of that scene turns out to be a lie, it's difficult to see how much we should read into it). His reluctance to grow up has seen him unable to grasp hold of the emotional intelligence to say how he feels. There are traces, shining through in Pegg's sublime performance, of a sadness bleeding from the heart of Gary King, as though these feelings are there, but he can't articulate them, as everyone else has grown able to do. Frances is perfectly able to articulate how she feels, as shown when she, somewhat drunk, tells a roomful of people who are essentially strangers how she views human relationships, providing perhaps the films' most poignant moment. However, she chooses not to- instead lying and pretending, trying to find a way round saying what she means. For her, it's a lifestyle choice. In fact, the whole film is partly about this lifestyle choice, an idea highlighted by how different she is when at home with her parents. For Gary, a choice was made- the choice to never grow up after that famous night, but he simply stagnates, whereas Frances reverts to and from her chosen lifestyle.
Although that's an interesting comparison to make. Perhaps it is Frances that stagnates. She is a character who is drifting through, remaining optimistic no matter how many complications life throws at her (The film always remains aware that her problems are those of a middle-class white woman, hence the "That's offensive to people who are actually poor" exchange). In contrast, Gary chooses to remain the same. "It never got better than that night" he bellows at Andy as the finale beckons. He wanted to try and live that one night forever. He didn't want it to be "The start of the rest of [his] life", he wanted it to be his entire life. He "Doesn't want to be sober" because he was so far from it that night. His desire to live this lifestyle has seen him land a dead-end lifestyle- the opening montage shows him to still be living in conditions that are very reminicent of student halls of residence. His continued interest in Sam highlights the idea he's probably struggled to hold down a girlfriend since, while the manner in which he shoots down the fact his friends are not successful, but employed, end of, in pub number four suggests he's been on the dole pretty much his entire life (Hopefully a process achieved in much the same fashion as it is in that brilliant episode of Spaced where Tim and Daisy signing on is directed as a grand action heist). Frances, though, is at least trying to make the best of her life, and potentially is about to at the end, finally finding a job that suits her, despite the fact it's been knocking on the door for her the entire film. It is perhaps to the films credit that it makes the bold decision not to 'redeem' Gary King. He remains obnoxious and fairly unlikeable throughout, although this is ultimately what 'saves' the human race from The Network- his beligerent, stumbling nature.
There's a third film currently playing in cinemas on the theme of friendship in the form of Pixar prequel Monsters University. While it's not a candle to the original, (Which stands as one of my very favourite films) it does build the relationship between Mike and Sully to a point in which it is the strong, recognisable bond at the heart of Monsters Inc. It's not as smart in its portrayal of human relationships as Frances Ha or The Worlds' End, perhaps as it's playing to a younger audience and is lacking the maturity of the originals' pitch-perfect Pete Docter screenplay. There's an argument to be made that friendship is at the heart of Pacific Rim as well, as the Jaegers require two pilots, who must be extremely close, although this tends to be brothers or fathers and sons in the film. All the same, it's interesting to see the day's cinema focus in on friendship, as opposed to the usual romantic themes bandied about. Even Frances Ha would probably be described as a romcom in many circles, but it's not romance at the heart of it. It' the question of whether someone's soulmate, someones "Person", as Frances puts it, has to be their romantic partner, or whether it can be their friend. Nick Frost made a similar comment in an interview- he stated that, perhaps, Simon Pegg is his soulmate, such is the cameradry between them. It's an idea living at the very heart of Hollywood at the minute, and long may it continue.
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