French Exit

I love when you see a movie that you know absolutely nothing about and therefore you do not expect anything, because when you see it, everything is a surprise, not expectations, only opportunities. French Exit managed to come to me in many ways, aesthetically clean, with a costume design like cherry on the cake and throughout the movie I couldn't stop thinking about how beautiful Michelle Pfeiffer looked.

A french exit is the term for when one leaves a party without saying goodbye. There's an implied disrespect when one does that; a sense of anger or boredom, and those feelings hang over much of the movie but are leavened with a sprinkling of good humour as if the departed guest had left behind some unexpected gifts.

At first glance, it seems to be an icy drama about emotionally closed off, super-wealthy New Yorkers but it turns out to be a stealthy comic/absurdist deranged tale where supernatural events are taken as normal, and mediums and private detectives can move into one's life.

The plot, such as it is, starts out with Michelle Pfeiffer's character learning that all her money has been spent. She sells off what she has left, and moves to Paris with her aimless son (played by Lucas Hedges) and their cat (I don't remember who plays the cat) to move into an apartment being lent to her by a friend.

What becomes clear is that Pfeiffer's character intends to live only as long as she still has money, and she is deliberately spending it as fast as she can.

This description doesn't do justice to the left turns the narrative takes, but I won't say more - just know that contacting the dead, mega generosity to the homeless, and a spurned fiancée all form part of the narrative.

It's a bizarre mix, and yet something about it works. Despite the iciness of Pfeiffer and the uselessness of Hedges, they attract into their lives a bizarre group of almost... friends? It's almost as if, in spite of themselves, a group of misfits become their family and unlikely emotional bonds form. It's as if humans, despite how they may have closed themselves off due to past pain, can't help forming tribes, communities who need each other.

It's as if we can put up barriers (like money) between us, but we can't keep them up - sooner or later we have to let people in, or we die...

If someone told me, they can't get too into the emotional problems of the super-wealthy, I would get that but I think there is something more universal at work here.

The screenplay is by Patrick DeWitt based on his own novel. (He also wrote the book "The Sisters Brothers" is based on.) It's directed by Azazel Jacobs. I have not seen any of Jacobs' previous work but he directs here with a sure sense of space, and a flair for the chilly atmosphere. It's not flashy but it really does the job.

Everyone is always saying there should be more less sequels/remakes/brand-extensions. This movie is weird, and that's good.

I don't understand the reviews that trash this movie, primarily because the complaints seem to stem from the type of movie this is and disappointment that it isn't something else.

Slight, subtle, art house-type movies typically appeal to a certain kind of moviegoer so I'm confused why this movie would even be something a viewer expecting outright comedy, big plots or themes or action - some of the complaints about the film - would ever select to watch. This would never appeal to my spouse, who prefers superhero movies. I, on the other hand, personally like subtle movies about reflection of one's life and choices, and the damage or outcomes that can result from those choices...which is what I felt this movie was about.

Michelle Pfeiffer and Lucas Hedges, as mother and son - as well as the rest of the supporting cast (especially Valerie Mahaffey as Madame Reynard) - were great. All around good performances with a sprinkling of humor; I didn't expect belly laughs. Michelle Pfeiffer as Frances was very effective as a woman coming to terms with the vanity, superficiality, and naïveté of her younger years and the mistakes made in her marriage, with her finances, and with her now-adult son. She presents as strong but aloof, keeping people at a distance as a means to protect herself - only to find enjoyment and a family of sorts with a full house of strangers who have assembled around her in her quest to find a cat presumed to carry the spirit of her dead husband.

For sure, not a lot goes on action-wise. Just Frances loosening up emotionally enough to come to terms with her current circumstances. Slight and bittersweet, but not horrible by any means.

This is an odd movie about quirky characters. If you like films with quirky characters and you love Paris, you'll probably like this movie. You also have to have an appreciation for the fantastical and whimsical. I thought the fantasy aspects made perfect sense with the plot. Pfeiffer gives an Oscar-worthy performance. At first you won't like her character, but she grows on you.

Michelle Pfeiffer plays an eccentric and rather lost socialite whose money has run out, so she sells everything she has and moves, with her withdrawn son to Paris, ostensibly to die before her money, which she continues to spend apace, runs out.

There is a lot going on in this quirky, surreal dark comedy / drama - including an underlying mystery regarding the death of Pfeiffer's husband and his spirit's possible occupation of their cat and her son's on / off relationship with Imogen Poots. At the centre of all this and in large part the main reason for watching this is Pfeiffer giving a superb performance as the saddened but brutally effervescent Frances. There do seems to be things missing here and not all the supporting characters have sufficient heft but overall this is great pleasure with some deft comedy certainly some weird stuff and in the end great sweetness.