Halle Berry’s ‘Frankie & Alice’ movie enters Oscar race


Halle Berry’s latest movie ‘Frankie & Alice’ has Hollywood speculating that the Oscar winning actress has entered the Oscar race in what many are saying is a award winning performance.

Based on a harrowing true story, ‘Frankie & Alice’ Halle plays Frankie Murdoch, a woman suffering with multiple personality disorder in early 1970s Los Angeles.

“Any time, as an actor, playing one role can be challenging, so playing three within one was a real challenge. I loved every second of it.”

Attending a special screening of Frankie & Alice recently in New York City, the Oscar-winning actress explained why it was so important to portray the true story of a woman with multiple personalities. After working on the film for 12 years, she explained here relentless belief in her latest project.

“If I get my mind set on something, I’m pretty relentless. It’s hard for me to get unstuck once I’m stuck. And I just believed in the story. I believed in the triumph of this woman and I thought that if in some way it could shed light on the stigma of mental illness it would be a good thing for people to have a little bit more compassion for people who suffer. The minute I heard this woman’s story, I was intrigued by it and I was determined to get it to the screen.”

Halle did detailed research on psychiatry through reading books, watching tapes and talking to doctors in the field in order to get a better grasp of the issue her character faced.

Halle’s intense performance in Monster’s Ball earned the actress her first Oscar in 2001. Again, she is up for the challenge by playing a complex, troubled character.

A bright Southern black woman raised in the 1950s, Frankie Murdoch saw her psyche split after a teenage trauma resulting in her sharing her mental space with a bigoted white woman. Appearing as a go-go dancer in a seedy Los Angeles strip club, Frankie’s erratic behavior blends right in. “Good moves, great tits, but pure psycho” states the club manager. His assessment, however, is far too simplistic to explain Frankie’s frequent mood swings and memory lapses. Watching this woman’s condition go untreated allows the audience to understand how such a disorder can make the patient become a danger to herself and others and allows us the understanding of the full impact of such a disorder.

Halle shows total commitment to the part, allowing herself to go unhinged. In an early scene, a panicked Frankie runs out into a busy street, her breasts spilling out of her halter as she narrowly avoids being hit by passing traffic.

The role offered a unique challenge of playing each of the personalities with total conviction while also handling the shifts between them as convincingly as possible. Berry does a superb job and explains in interviews that both she and the director wanted to remain true to the subtle nature by which such a transformation actually occurs in patients suffering from this disorder. Unlike many Hollywood depictions, they wanted it to be true to reality.

Halle also produced the film, which was directed by Geoffrey Sax. This moving psychological drama also stars Stellan Skarsgard, Phylicia Rashad and Chandra Wilson.

‘Frankie & Alice’ opens in theaters December 10 in Los Angeles and across the North America in February 2011.

Co-starring in the film are Stellan Skarsgård, Phylicia Rashad, Chandra Wilson, Matt Frewer, Alexander Skarsgard’s dad Stellan Skarsgard and Grey’s Anatomy’s Chandra Wilson.

Below are 2 trailers and Halle Berry talking about her role and commitment to her latest film.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Interview:

Film Poster: