Today I felt we need to switch up our viewing, and decided it was time to find a strong female
driven movie. Michelle Pfeiffer filled the void as Frances Price the lead character in “French
Exit”
Frances is a Manhattan socialite, who married rich, may or may not of killed her husband, and
now after decades of treating her inheritance as an eternally full well is just about broke.
When asked by her lawyer what was her plan, as he had warned her for years the money flow
was coming to an end, Frances sadly replies “The plan was to die before the money ran out.
But I’m still here” He advises her, the only thing to do is sell everything jewelry, art, furniture,
cars quietly and cheaply for cash.
Frances has an adult son Malcolm, who doesn’t seem to do much of anything. He does have a
girlfriend, he is secretly engaged to, but afraid to tell her mother. When finally given an
ultimatum from his girlfriend, he approaches his mother in a darken kitchen who is sharpening
a large knife. Her presence in the kitchen so bizarre, he asks “Are you cooking?” She answers
as she sharpens the knife “NO, I just like the sound it makes, I have news” Malcolm says, “I have
news also” Frances doesn’t hold back “We are insolvent, we have nothing left!” As you can
imagine Malcolm doesn’t share his news.
We next see Frances’s brunching with her friend Joan, who advises Frances she needs to get
out of NYC, and offers her apartment in Paris. Frances returns home to tell Malcolm they are
moving to Paris. “For how long?” he asks. She hasn’t a clue, “I don’t know, maybe forever” she
is aimless and lost but keeps her high society face on, packs her cat, furs and designer clothes,
and off they go, on a transatlantic cruise ship to Europe. Wait, but what about Malcolm’s
fiancée? Honestly, she is better off without him, Malcolm is like his mother, just drifting thru
life without ambition or goals. And why bring the cat? Why not leave the cat with Joan?
There is a funny scene with a cruise ship fortune teller…. fun fact two people per day will die
during a Transatlantic crossing, it’s an industry standard. Another fun fact…..we are taking a
sixteen-day Transatlantic cruise next spring, that’s a lot of body bags.
The ship docks, they smuggle the now drugged cat thru customs along with her tote bag full of
Euros and set up residence in Joan’s Paris apartment. Frances stares at her stash of cash,
stacked in the closet with a look of loathing, as if the cash is a burden.
The change of venue doesn’t change France’s view of money, and she is soon tipping $100
Euros for a cup of coffee and buying $500 bottles of wine. Why is she spending money like
water? Why not save it for ambitionless Malcolm? Her stacks of cash in the closet are
dwindling, but she doesn’t seem to have a care about it.
They soon receive a party invitation from a fellow former New Yorker. With nothing else to do,
they put on their society finest and knock on the door of Madame Reynard. Surprise, Frances
and Malcolm are the only guests of the kooky Reynard, who pleads “Please don’t ruin this for
me, I’m lonely and it took a lot for me to send you the invitation.” Somehow, this breaks thru
to Frances and soon the two amigos are now the three amigos.
The problem with this movie is the writing, and a support cast without a lot to do. And don’t
get me started on the cat storyline. The ensuing facts and the path taken are silly and arrive
way too late in the movie. It seems like the cat/dead husband story was added at the last
minute, maybe the movie was running short, or it was edited badly. I don’t know, but it just
doesn’t gel with the rest of the movie. And who uses a public phone booth? Kids in elementary
school have phones, Malcolm you aren’t that broke. And when was the last time you received
a post card? Think of the lack of privacy when sending a post card, I can’t imagine someone like
Frances writing her most private thoughts on postcard for any waiter, or postal worker to see
on it’s nearly four thousand mile journey to NY.
I did like how Frances describes her vision, of how her life would eventually bring her back to
Paris, it’s sad, but so is Frances’ life.
Michelle Pfeiffer is fabulous in her role, playing Frances from society diva to coming clean way
too late in life that becoming a mother was probably not a wise choice, and discovering money
and its trappings did not make life better at the end. Lucas Hedges as Malcolm should have
taken a pass on this role, it did nothing to showcase his acting abilities. The same can be said
for the other members of the supporting cast, though I did love Valerie Mahaffery as Madame
Reynard, who’s neediness was endearing.
And the ending…. after one hundred ten minutes…. we deserve a better ending. Yes, that was
her end game, but come on…. DISAPPOINTMENT.
“French Exit” is rated C-, saved only due to Pfeiffer’s outstanding performance. FYI the minus
came from the crap ending.
As for a beverage, a French Rose is appropriate.
