French Exit
With every performance, it feels like Michelle Pfeiffer is alternately telling us, “I’m here to entertain you,” and “I’m here to show you what you’re missing.” That’s one of the things I felt most strongly radiated from her performance in “French Exit,” which feels like a swan song, although I have to imagine it will not be the last time she is front and center in a film. Unlike her character, I think Pfeiffer still has a lot left to give us.
Frances Price is a Manhattan socialite who’s been living off of the inheritance of her dead husband for a decade. Now, the money is running out, and she cannot live like a common woman. Her only option is to sell everything and live off of that. Thankfully, a friend (Susan Coyne), has an apartment in Paris she doesn’t use, so Frances can just move there. Joining her is her son Malcolm (Lucas Hedges), whom Frances pulled out of private school at age 12 and has been taking on her adventures ever since. Why? Just because. It hasn’t helped Malcolm become a well-adjusted adult, as we will see when he interacts with both his long-time fiancee (Imogen Poots) and a psychic (Danielle Macdonald) they meet on the boat ride to France.
The film is adapted by Patrick DeWitt from his book, and the more I think about it afterwards, the more I realize this movie would be flat-out obnoxious and annoying without Pfeiffer at the center. Frances is not a particularly endearing character, but Pfeiffer makes her interesting with her natural personality. We see why people gravitate towards her, and also how she uses people as crutches she feels like she needs to elevate her status. You would think that this story would be a coming-of-age, of sorts, for Frances, as she enjoys the rest of her life, but instead it’s basically just her blowing through the rest of her money, and Malcolm and others being around for the ride. I think the movie would have worked better had it given Pfeiffer some more to play with, because the final result directed by Azazel Jacobs is kind of drab, and not as light on its feet as it should be.
I forgot to mention the cat. So, in addition to Malcolm, there’s Small Frank. Small Frank is a black cat who stood up on her husband Frank’s dead body, and began licking, so much that it seems to take his soul from his body. He stuck around, so Frances looked at him as Small Frank. For much of the film, Small Frank is just around, until he runs away after biting Frances one day. That’s where the psychic comes back into the story, and we get a little glimpse at the kind of absurdity that could have been played with that story thread. Small Frank might be the most sadly underused character in the film.
There are a lot of elements that could have made a really good movie in “French Exit.” What makes it as good as it is, though, is Pfeiffer. This is far from here best work, but it’s a welcome reminder that, if you put her in a movie, you can get something special in return. I wish “French Exit” were more special.
