Consider first Diane Lane. Some people are fortunate to have faces that can be decoded as a sign of good character. This has nothing to do with "beauty" and more to do with ineffables like smiles and eyes. Diane Lane involves us, implicates us. She persuades us that she deserves to be happy.
Eventually, after Frances has suffered enough, the film slaps on a happy ending like a Post-it note, but her reward is not earned. This conclusion cheapens what Frances has endured and is the equivalent of saying that all the work on her villa didn't raise her property values by a single euro.
