Treat yourself to one of the most delightful films this year, “FRANCES HA”, held over at the Varsity Theatre in Des Moines, across from Drake University.

Greta Gerwig, who cowrote the film with Director Noah Baumbach, stars as Frances, a 27 year old aspiring dancer struggling to find her footing in New York City.

The story follows Frances from Brooklyn to Chinatown to Sacramento (home for the holidays), a brief, jet-lagged jaunt to Paris and a return to her college in Poughkeepsie, all the while trying to navigate her best-friendship with Sophie, played by Mickey Sumner. They're sisters at heart.

This friendship is the core of “FRANCES HA”. Frances clings to Sophie as her big-city life raft, and they're great pals, supportive, seeing each other through dubious boyfriends, commiserating over cigarettes and liquor.But the lease on their apartment is up and gainfully employed Sophie has an opportunity to move to a nicer place with her boyfriend. Splitting is inevitable.

And so Frances is on her own, bouncing from place to place, never quite solvent and always dreaming. Far too buoyant to ever crash, Frances continues to drift through life. The film is really a celebration of Gerwig — watching her dash and dance down the street, following her goofy dialogue and lounging in her messy bedrooms.

But there are other things going on here — economic struggle, the burden of optimism, the dark gloom of impending adulthood. Frances faces it all with a stubborn naivete.

Made with an obvious love of New York, and recalling Woody Allen at his best, this is a funny, tender, life-affirming movie you don't want to miss.