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John Barry's sensitive score to the 1982 biopic Frances harkens back to the Hollywood golden era that launched the film's subject, doomed actress Frances Farmer (played onscreen by Jessica Lange). Its simple yet sumptuous melodies evoke the classic melodramas of decades past, albeit informed with an emotional depth rarely achieved in the infancy of the sound era. Barry captures the beauty and tragedy of both Farmer and Lange, creating slow-burning themes that brilliantly convey heartbreak, melancholy, and turmoil. To his credit, the composer avoids the kind of overbaked arrangements that commonly express the travails of human suffering, instead tempering Frances with sympathy and even mercy. ~ Jason Ankeny
