Tuesday 17 December 2013

Frankie and Alice (2010)

This is a story about a young black woman in the '70's who suffers from multiple personality disorder.

Halle Berry plays a young stripper named Frankie. She's living her life and having fun, but every once in a while she suffers from these blackouts, and when she talks about stripping to the new girl, speaks about a disconnect between her body and mind. One night, she goes to a pool hall and ends up going back to the apartment of the dj at the strip club for some fun, but before anything can happen, she becomes disoriented and then begins speaking to the guy like she'd never met him before, attacks him, and runs out of the apartment onto the street. She passes out there and ends up in a hospital, where a doctor checks her over. The doctor notices right away that Frankie has some psychological problems (he's a psychology professor also) and wishes to examine her further. This doctor discovers that when Frankie experiences these 'blackouts', another personality is taking over her body. He discovers that there are mainly three people inside her head, multiple personality disorder. There is Frankie herself, 'Genius' who is a very intelligent child, and Alice, a racist white woman. As the doctor progresses with Frankie, these characters are fleshed out, and they explore events in her past that may or may not have influenced her condition.

Halle Berry does a pretty good job of acting out the three different characters. Sometimes the transitions between one character and another felt a little superficial, but overall it was a job well done. The film overall was decent. It got the story across well enough, but for me there was an emotional element lacking. If you want another film that does a slightly better job, you can check out The Three Faces of Eve (1957). It's a similar storyline, but it packs that extra suspense and drama in there. That's not to say that this film isn't good though. It does a good job and is very enjoyable.



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