Frances

Frances is a 1982 Universal drama film starring Jessica Lange, Kim Stanley, Sam Shepard. When it was released this film was advertised as a purportedly true account of actress Frances Farmer's life but the script was largely fictional and sensationalized. In particular, the film depicts Farmer as having been lobotomized; this never happened. The film's tagline is: "Her story is shocking, disturbing, compelling... and true." Directed by Graeme Clifford, the story was written for the screen by Eric Bergren, Christopher De Vore and Nicholas Kazan (son of Elia Kazan, who worked with the real Frances Farmer in several plays), based upon William Arnold's Shadowland, a fictional biography of Farmer. In pre-production, the producers reneged on their option to use the book as source material. Arnold filed an unsuccessful copyright infringement lawsuit but many of his fictional elements were incorporated into the final film. On the commentary of the latest DVD release, director Clifford stated, "We didn't want to nickel and dime people to death with facts."