Vaginal bleeding plays a potent supporting role in Alex Thompson’s “Saint Frances,” unsurprising in a movie this deeply invested in the everyday joys and agonies of being a woman.

Covering one difficult, transformative summer in the life of a dissatisfied waitress named Bridget (played by the film’s writer, Kelly O’Sullivan), the movie gently queries our assumptions about what constitutes female success. At 34, Bridget worries that time is running out on finding a career, landing a life partner and, especially, having children. She’s not sure she wants these things, she just knows she’s expected to want them. Her parents hint darkly about her aging uterus, and her younger, more relaxed lover (Max Lipchitz) wonders why she refuses to define their connection as a relationship.