Is Frankie and Alice based on a True Story? Know its Plot and Ending
by Rajesh | Updated Apr 25, 2023
Frankie and Alice
Frankie & Alice starring Halle Berry and Stellan Skarsgard is a Canadian drama film directed by Geoffrey Sax. The film was about a go-go dancer, suffering from multiple personality disorders, hearing voices all over her head, and how she struggles to solve the mystery of her inner ghosts and to remain her true self with the help of a psychotherapist.
The movie was not initially released domestically and only had a limited release on December 10, 2010, to qualify for awards and also had a world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2010, later which it had a wider re-release on April 4, 2014. The film got mixed reviews and was widely acclaimed for Berry’s performance.
Is Frankie and Alice Based on a True Story?
Yes, Frankie & Alice is based on a true story. The movie follows Francine Lucinda Murdoch, a black American erotic dancer suffering from different personalities. Francine struggles with multiple personality disorders because of her traumatic past including his partner's death and losing her child as it was half white. Because of the extreme reality of the movie and it was also based on a real person, Frankie & Alice were nominated for many accolades. The film delves into the complex issues of racism and discrimination that Francine faced as a black woman in America, and the impact that these issues had on her mental health.
A True Life Story of Frankie and Alice
Frankie Murdoch was born and raised in Savannah, Georgia. Later, their family shifted to Los Angeles and Frankie became a bar dancer. She becomes one of the best strippers and was the highest paid as she attracts men easier with her dance. She has suffered from Multiple personality disorder because of her past traumas. The dissociative personality disorder is due to her horrible past, from losing her partner in an accident to losing her child because of her mother. All of the past events affected her in such a way that she begins switching between different personalities.
Frankie and Alice Plot
The movie revolves around Frankie, a successful gogo dancer performing at a Los Angeles club in 1963. She often attracts wealthy businessmen as she is one of the best stripers performing in the club. One night during a Girl's Night out Frankie meets her boss who she already knows and agrees to go home with him for a sleepover. Before getting into romance, Frankie triggers her alter ego and cracks open his head the news escalates into her club, and Frankie was fired in the instant.
Similar outbursts and blackouts continue to happen after which she decided to seek help from a psychotherapist named Dr. Oz, who soon diagnoses her with dissociative identity disorder (DID), also known as multiple personality disorder. As the therapy sessions begin, Frankie battles to control her other personalities, including Alice, a white Southern belle who is racist; Genius, a highly intelligent but emotionally vulnerable seven-year-old girl; and Frankie herself, who struggles to adapt her traumatic past with her current life.
Dr. Oz uncover the traumatic events from her childhood that caused the development of her multiple personalities. She had suffered sexual abuse by her father as a child, which had led to her creating these alter personalities to cope with the trauma. However, looking deeper into her past, She realizes that when she was a teenager she was in love with a white man who died in a car accident. Frankie's mother kills her child as it is half-white, thus triggering Frankie's personality to split.
Frankie faces societal discrimination due to her race. The racism that Alice exhibits creates conflicts with other personalities, and they begin to fight each other for dominance. In the end, Frankie can gain control of her different personalities and integrate them into a single identity.
Frankie and Alice Ending Explained
In the end, Dr. Oz puts Frankie in a hypnotic state. It is shown that she was in love with a white man when she is a teenager, and he was dead in an accident while riding a car and Frankie sitting in the front distracting him. It was also shown that Frankie’s mother wraps the child as she realizes that the child was half white and half black and kills it, These incidents thus trigger Frankie to split her personality.
Halle Berry shows her full range of acting skills as she demonstrates childbirth, the traumatic death of her boyfriend, Pete, and the subtle extinguishing of the life of a newborn at the hands of her mother. Frankie is now shown with the ability to control and integrate her different personalities into a single personality.
Frankie and Alice Trailer
Is Frankie and Alice based on a True Story - FAQs
Frankie starring Halle Berry was the main lead of the movie.
The movie had its first world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2010.
The movie was directed by Geoffrey Sax.
Genius is the name of the girl Frankie suffers from.
The movie Frankie & Alice got re-released in April 4, 2014.