Meet the female ensemble with a difference
Sundance hit SAINT FRANCES tells four women’s stories in an incredibly un-hollywood way. The film’s writer-star explains how
TWO EVENTS HAPPENED in Kelly O’sullivan’s life that inspired her to write the screenplay for Saint Frances: working as a nanny in her twenties, and having an abortion in her thirties. O’sullivan also stars in the film, directed by her partner Alex Thompson, as Bridget, a 34-year-old nanny who’s dealing with an unwanted pregnancy, a new job and the feeling she’s failing at life. It’s a semiautobiographical story that brings together a diverse set of female-focused stories, as O’sullivan explains here.
BRIDGET (KELLY O’SULLIVAN)
While abortion is typically represented as dramatic and traumatic, O’sullivan wanted Bridget’s experience to be grounded in reality. “I really wanted to demystify it,” she tells Empire. “When I went to have an abortion in real life, it was surrounded in mystery because no-one ever talks about it and it’s never shown on screen.” The same went for portraying periods, too; the film opens with the aftermath of a blood-stained sex scene, played for laughs. “[Periods] are such a constant part of women’s lives, yet made shameful and secretive. Like period commercials where the blood is blue — it’s so absurd!”
MAYA (CHARIN ALVAREZ)
When Bridget first starts nannying for Maya and Annie — a wealthy same-sex couple with two children — she’s intimidated by the couple’s seemingly perfect lives. “Annie and Maya seem to have it all — a beautiful house, impressive jobs, an adorable kid — but there are still fractures there and Bridget comes to realise that no-one is as perfect as they seem.” Maya struggles with postpartum depression; the film, O’sullivan says, aims to show how complex that can be. “In a household where progressivism is being taught to their daughter, Maya is still feeling the shame of postpartum. You can be teaching one thing but struggling with self-acceptance at the same time.”
ANNIE (LILY MOJEKWU)
At first, Annie and Bridget seem like opposites, and much of the film’s comedy comes from their inability to understand each other. “Lily was incredible at understanding the film’s tone and the mixture of comedy and drama. She was so grounded but let the comedy bubble up naturally.” Instead of the abortion being the crux of Bridget’s character arc, it’s her relationships with the film’s female ensemble that allows her to grow. “It was important for me to have a multigenerational cast of women because I’m interested in stories where women of all ages interact and learn from each other. You see that with Annie and Bridget.”
FRANCES (RAMONA EDITH WILLIAMS)
Saint Frances’ scene-stealer is undoubtedly the titular five-year-old, Frances. Though Bridget and Frances are slow to gel, that wasn’t the case off-screen. “We got so lucky in that Ramona is just an incredible actor,” says O’sullivan. “We didn’t have to coach her at all. She’s not a Disney Channel version of a kid — she’s just a kid.” Though young and naive, Frances also shows incredible insight. “She’s really the heart of the film,” O’sullivan says. “She represents the next generation of women who are being taught to better accept themselves.” A lesson, O’sullivan hopes, that hits home in her film.