French Exit

By: Ashlee Dell’Arciprete

One of the quirkiest films to come out of the New York Film Festival this year would definitely be the Michelle Pfieffer led, French Exit. The movie is a perfectly executed surreal comedy that follows Manhattan Upper East Side socialite Frances Price (Pfieffer) and her son Malcolm (Lucas Hedges) through their financial struggles after Frances realizes she’s now penniless from spending her entire inheritance of her late husband, Frank.

Price believed that she would have passed away before spending all of her inherited money, which was not the case.  Soon after, she received a call from her financial advisor who explains that she is now broke. This puts Malcolm in an unorthodox position, making him become co-dependent towards his mother. The co-dependency between the two is prominent in the latter part of the beginning of the film when Malcolm was supposed to tell his mother about his secret engagement but ends up agreeing to move to Paris with his mother. So, he breaks up his engagement with his girlfriend, Susan (Immogen Poots), because he does not feel comfortable letting his mother go without him.

The second half of the film is set at a borrowed apartment after Frances and Malcolm pack their things to head to Paris by cruise ship. The pair brought everything they had left after selling what they needed to everything including their cat, dubbed as Small Frank, whom she believes to be. When they arrive in Paris both Frances and Malcolm, but especially Frances, have to adapt to the minimal lifestyle that is much different from Frances’ former Upper East Sider lifestyle.. They meet unique people like a medium, a psychic and others while they are in Paris. In an especially hilarious scene Frances and Malcolm have a séance, led by Madeleine (Danielle Macdonald), to attempt to contact Frank through the cat.

French Exit was originally a novel written by Patrick Dewitt who also wrote the screenplay for the film that shares the same name. French Exit illustrates the financial struggles of instability, coincidentally mirroring this past year’s pandemic. The film’s director, Azazel Jacobs, excels at creating a world for each character to be distinctly themselves. Jacobs does an excellent job in portraying the reality of having a stalking wake-up call that makes the audience reconsider everything moving forward. The film has a great plot, mix of characters and dialogue while leaving the audience on their toes. However, towards the end the variety of characters makes the story at times hard to follow.

Pfieffer shines and showcases that she very much is still an acting force to be reckoned with. The eccentric and peculiar Frances is an obscure but glorious role to display her talent and acting ability. Lucas Hedges does not disappoint either and, while illustrating a directionless son, can explore a much more intimate side to some of his previous performances.

As the film goes on, we are introduced to several new characters who each have their own uniqueness, but at times the direction can be a bit overwhelming with sorting through them all. Overall, French Exit is definitely one of the most lighthearted and quirky films to come out in 2021 and is worth the watch if you are looking for a great distraction from this past year.