Our review of The Dream Life of Miss Fran: Daisy Ridley and her poetic solitude

Viewers who left Daisy Ridley burying her mentors' lightsabers in the sand at the end of the last Star Wars trilogy will take time to recognize the British actress in The Dream Life of Miss Fran. Here she portrays an introverted office worker who keeps to herself. There is no question of mingling with colleagues chatting around the coffee machine or meeting them for game evenings. The Excel spreadsheet expert prefers to enjoy her sudokus and cottage cheese alone.

Prone to getting lost in her imagination, Fran constructs a thousand and one baroque scenarios at the end of which she would die. Not that she wants to end her life. Her dreams of forests and oceans, of teeming reptiles and insects, are more of an escape from a daily life that overwhelms her. However, this abundant interior life finds itself shaken up by the new recruit of the open space: Robert cannot help but want to take Fran out of her protective cocoon.

With this austere, dreamlike portrait of the weight of loneliness, director Rachel Lambert embraces the melancholy of existence, but does not condemn it. Its subject is less depression than the difficulty of forming connections and opening up to others in our modern and noisy society. The minimalism of this independent film, calibrated for the Sundance and Deauville festivals, is counterbalanced by a good dose of humor and a permanent difference. Fran, for whom the Grim Reaper is almost a friend, discovers unsuspected skills as a guest at “murder parties”. His morbid visions draw as much from the beauty of Pre-Raphaeliteism as from the grotesque scenes of Brueghel the Elder. A form of calm emerges, like a film stingy with dialogue which takes care of its silences and lets time pass drop by drop.

Despite its floating heroine, the film is not depressing. On the contrary. Inviting introspection, he plays a little unique chamber music that resonates in our post-confinement world. The pandemic has demonstrated to what extent isolation is a universal scourge. “The dichotomy between Fran’s wealth and what she projects upset me. It's a discreet one. Being in society, for her, is like being naked. How can we overcome this reluctance to make the connection we need to thrive? We can have the impression that it is impossible to find our place, to touch someone. However, this person would be delighted to have support, an ear,” explains Daisy Ridley.

Some would be tempted to see Robert (Dave Merheje) as a serving knight. The actress tempers: “The Dream Life of Miss Fran is not a romantic comedy, even if certain milestones suggest it. This film reminds us that life is rarely a succession of fireworks. The course of things looks more like a series of small and precious moments, embers in the hearth.” A beautiful promise.

“The Dream Life of Miss Fran”, comedy by Rachel Lambert. With Daisy Ridley, Dave Merheje, Parvesh Cheena. Duration: 1h31.

Le Figaro’s opinion: 2/4.