November 30, 2013 -- This Noah Baumbach film (“The Fantastic Mr. Fox” and “The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou”) cuts a wobbly line between comedy and drama. It follows 27-year-old Frances Halladay as she tries to stay afloat in New York City as a dancer. Her friends tell her she is starting to look older than her years and her dreams of being a professional dancer are not looking good. There are signs of not-so-quiet desperation.

Frances (played by Greta Gerwig of “Greenberg,” another Baumbach film) lives in an apartment with her friend, Sophie Levee (Mickey Summer of “Last Chance Harvey”). They seem happy enough living together, as Frances says, “We're like a lesbian couple that doesn't have sex anymore.” She's happy enough with this arrangement that she turns down her boyfriend's offer to move in with him because she thinks she and Sophie are about to renew their lease.

It turns out Sophie has other plans. She is moving out. Frances can't afford to pay the rent by herself, so she has to move out, too. She moves in with two friends, but then finds out she can't afford that arrangement either when a dancing job she was counting on falls through. Frances starts to spiral out of control. She foolishly jets off to Paris, using a new charge card that she can't afford to repay and then jets right back to New York. She heads off to California and to Poughkeepsie for a while, but no matter where she runs to, she can't run away from herself.

It looks like Frances is going down the drain, but she manages to stay afloat somehow. She is angry with Sophie for leaving her. She begins acting very erratically, fighting with Sophie and making up stories about how she is doing better than she really is. But just when she seems about to alienate her friends she manages to recover.

Frances is not a person who is very organized. She is very impulsive. One of her friends, Benji (Michael Zegen of “The Walking Dead” TV show) jokingly calls her “undatable,” even though he really would like to date her. Despite her volatility, Frances is an extremely attractive person, with an upbeat personality who is capable of intense affection.

This film is more of a slice of life and a character study than a conventional film. There is a bit of a story arc here and some character development, but it certainly isn't a romantic comedy in the traditional sense.

The film is very well directed. The vignette showing Frances going home to spend a few days with her family in Sacramento, California, manages to cram all the horrors of going home into just a few seconds of screen time. It is a gem among many in this well-cut film by editor Jennifer Lame (“Before the Devil Knows You're Dead”). The acting is also very strong among the leads.

I guess I'd be amiss if I didn't also mention this film is shot in black and white, a rarity these days. It seems to tip more towards the less contrasty side of the gray scale palette. Even though Frances' life is lived in the gray areas of this world, she is also being faced with black and white choices.

Baumbach likes to walk on the dark side in his films, but there is also a playful side to him. This film does have a dark edge to it, but a lighter mood dominates here, and that is a good thing. This film rates a B.

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