NYFF Review: ‘French Exit’
Moving and endearing but largely disjointed and unfocused, ‘French Exit’ is a compelling mess of a film with a powerful performance from Michelle Pfeiffer at its center.
“I don’t like you people. None of you are normal.” So says Tom (Daniel Di Tomaso), a character in Azazel Jacobs’ ‘French Exit’, a heartwarming if unfocused story about overcoming grief and making amends for your errors. And he’s right; none of the characters in the film behave like normal people; they all speak and act in an inauthentic way, almost as if they walked off of the whimsical set of a Wes Anderson movie. But he’s also wrong; thanks to the efforts of a wonderful cast, they come off as likeable and endearing rather than grating, and that is largely why the film works.
‘French Exit’ stars Michelle Pfeiffer as Francis Price, a formerly well-off woman who discovers that her funds have gone dry after the death of her husband. Struggling to get by while also aspiring to lead the same glamorous life she has become accustomed to, Francis takes up her friend’s offer of moving to her vacant apartment in Paris after she sells her house in New York, embarking on the trip with her sheltered son Malcolm (Lucas Hedges) and her cat, who she believes is her reincarnated husband.
‘French Exit’ has already been compared to the works of Woody Allen and those comparisons aren’t unfounded; the film’s lighthearted tone, comedic sensibilities and jovial score in particular would not have been out of place in an Allen film. But one thing ‘French Exit’ has that Allen’s films are mostly devoid of is heart. While Allen tackles a lot of his characters with contempt and indifference, more interested in having them deliver witty, memorable lines instead of exploring their psyche, Jacobs and screenwriter Patrick deWitt (who also wrote the book the film is based on) handle the characters in ‘French Exit’ with care and compassion. The characters are all damaged oddballs, thrust into situations they can’t seem to escape from, and in Jacobs’ hands, their hi-jinks are an absolute joy to watch.
Michelle Pfeiffer is effervescent as the wry and charismatic Francis. This is her best performance in years and will undoubtedly place her at the forefront of the Oscar race this awards season. She is somehow both simultaneously magnificent and pathetic, exuding a confident and magnetic energy while she wanders around Paris desperate for connection, making small talk with the locals and penning suicide notes in cafes. Pfeiffer does an excellent job at giving viewers a glimpse into the fiery, painful warmth behind Francis’ ice cold, disinterested facade, turning in a dazzling display of dichotomy in the process.
Lucas Hedges is endearing as a young man stuck in arrested development while Valerie Mahaffey and Isaach De Bankole are a hoot to watch as the kooky Madame Reynard and the reliable doorman Julius. Imogen Poots and Danielle Macdonald do what they can with largely underwritten roles but Daniel di Tomasso manages to leave a strong impression in just a few short minutes of screentime as Malcolm’s rival for Susan’s (Poots) affection, turning in an intense and off-beat display of unassuming braggadocio and masculinity.
The film stumbles after a compelling first act, with Jacobs struggling to smoothly transition through the film’s various moods and genres. Its sudden shift into supernatural territory is incredibly jarring, despite a few hints and clues given beforehand, and its never able to fully recover, with the rest of the film’s proceedings too meandering and unfocused to truly leave much of an impact.
Part ‘Blue Jasmine’, part ‘Personal Shopper’ and part ‘The Darjeeling Limited’, ‘French Exit’ is just as messy as its group of kooky characters but thanks to Michelle Pfeiffer’s powerful and compelling display of armed vulnerability and tangible loneliness, it’s a beautiful mess that you can’t look away from.
Rating: 3.5/5
‘French Exit’ premiered at the 2020 New York Film Festival. It is scheduled to be released in theaters on February 12, 2021.