"French Exit" -- Movie Review

 

On the closing night of the Virtual 58^th New York Film Festival, I streamed the World Premiere of a new comedy-drama, “French Exit”, starring Michelle Pfeiffer.

Synopsis

When a dowager loses all her money, she and her son head to Paris – but can they make a go of it?

Story

Frances (Michelle Pfeiffer) has just gotten the worst possible news.  The inheritance she’s been living on since the death of her wealthy husband is quickly running out; pretty soon, she’s going to be completely broke.  This will also negatively impact her adult son Malcolm (Lucas Hedges), who lives with her.  Malcolm and his girlfriend Susan (Imogen Poots) were thinking about getting married, but that doesn’t look like it’s in the cards now.  The plan forward is for Frances to raise some much-needed cash by selling her art, jewelry and Manhattan mansion.    

While ridding herself of many of her material possessions, Frances confides to her friend Joan (Susan Coyne) about her predicament.  When Joan realizes that Frances will soon be homeless, she offers Frances her apartment in Paris, which she hasn’t used in a long time.  With no better offers on the table, Frances takes up Joan’s generous proposal.  When Frances informs Malcolm, he finds that he is now forced to break up with Susan, who is understandably furious.  Soon, Frances and Malcolm set sail to France to carve out a new life. 

During the cruise, Malcolm befriends Madeleine (Danielle Macdonald), who works on the ship as a fortune teller.  Although her ethics are notoriously suspect, she does seem to have one redeeming feature:  she has formed a connection with Small Frank, Frances’ black cat.  This comes in handy once Frances and Malcolm settle into their new apartment because Small Frank runs away; Frances gets an idea to reach out to Madeleine to use her talents as a clairvoyant to help locate the cat.  But when Frances is forced to reveal the true importance of Small Frank, will finding her pet really be the best outcome for Frances?    

Review

The movie “French Exit” takes its title from the novel on which it was based, authored by Patrick DeWitt, who also wrote the screenplay.  The title of both is derived from a phrase that means “to make an early exit without saying goodbye”.  If you’ve read the book, you’ll understand the title better, as you will if you see this screen adaptation.  As for the film itself, it’s a mildly entertaining bunch of oddball characters, but the comedic portions of the movie aren’t truly deserving of a laugh and the dialog is a bit wanting.  The attempted humor doesn’t come so much from jokes as it does from the characters in wacky situations.

“French Exit” ultimately morphs into something of an ensemble piece-cum-drawing-room comedy.  The characters of Frances and Malcolm are its main focus – and at that, mainly Frances.  At times, it feels like Malcolm is only around so that Frances doesn’t have to go through this entire adventure completely alone and gives her someone with whom to talk.  Primarily, it is Frances’ story, but Malcolm’s story – which is only fully explored in the third act – is essential to the movie as a whole and is handled as something of a reveal late in the game. 

Pfeiffer’s performance is what keeps you hanging in there – as Frances, she’s not exactly the most sympathetic character in the world.  In fact, at times, you might even find yourself rooting against her because she comes across as so cold, cruel and dispassionate.  It is the fact that despite this, Malcolm’s lack of harshness towards her makes you think that if you hang in there long enough, you will eventually find a likeable human being.  That said, you’ll be in for quite a long wait.  Director Azazel Jacobs succeeds in providing the audience with “geo porn” – i.e., beautiful shots of Paris that will make you want to visit if you’ve never been and make you want to return if you already have.