Film Synopsis: French Exit. An aging Manhattan socialite (played by Michelle Pfeiffer) living on what’s barely left of her inheritance moves to a small apartment in Paris with her son (played by Lucas Hedges) & her cat. Can you imagine a life like this? To live on someone else’s money for the rest of your life and never work? You do know there are people like this in the world, don’t you….

GRADE: [B+]

 

The film, French Exit was everything that was advertised on the actual movie poster itself and from what I had read online. The reason that I peeked @ some of the reviews was because I was not even sure if it would come to a movie theater in my area – if any at all, and when it did, I rushed to see it because it looked like a movie that I would enjoy & that I did. French Exit! French Exit! French Exit! French Exit!

I MOST CERTAINLY DID! Pfeiffer did a stellar job in her role as Frances Price. Her performance was immaculate! She behaved like a stuck up, bratty, rich, uppity socialite for sure! Did she make a french exit in Paris? Her character was one of those women who thinks that they can flaunt money at whoever and whatever whenever in order to get what they want; thinking that they are above the law and anyone; giving extra gratuities at restaurants; ordering people around; bring bossy; the whole package if you get my drift. 

She got knocked back down to reality REAL quick when her accountant informed her (and had been for years, but once again she was one of those types where information went through one ear and out the other) that she had went through all of her inheritance, and she was penniless without a dime to her name! 

Do you think that this humbled her in any way? What do you think she did? Rather quickly, the cat that Frances and her son has in the film is VERY crucial in the film – but will you be able to figure it out its strong significance before it is revealed? Honestly, I didn’t. Will you?

Do you think that Madame Frances Price had a change of heart in the way she treated people, and went about life? I really think that this is a movie to see. True, it has comedy in it – but all of what I just wrote is the main message of the movie – and that is to NOT LET FAME, MONEY, AND SUCCESS RUIN OR CHANGE YOU! In life, whenever people get on top, or get a little taste of success, they tend to change, and get “the big head,” and forget where they came from, and who they are, and they should not get that way. 

Frances was the type of person who married into wealth, and most likely came from nothing, and very quickly adapted to the rich life, and quickly forgot how to be – her. Simply, her. Plain & simple. And her son, he was nothing, but the mere image of her – he had no direction in his life – he was a coward, and could never speak up for himself, he never could speak up for what he wanted and that included his engagement to his fiancee, Susan. 

That is the one thing that Frances could do – she knew how to get people’s attention by doing toxic things; very dramatic things. The film allows you to use YOUR own imagination to fill in the blanks where you think the writers did not answer your questions that you feel were left unanswered, but in fact they really weren’t. I loved that about the film. It was like playing a mystery game or something like chess; when it was your move – it was your move to take a wild guess at why this happened or what you think should happen… 

Her son, Malcolm, on the other hand, Malcolm, not so much, but where they are very similar was having no direction in life. Frances thought she would have the money for the rest of her life, and never keeping track of her spending & just spending extravagantly until it finally caught up with her as for her son; to me, he was just a pawn, he moved when she did….he truly had no life of his own and that was a sad and terrible existence. What do you think happened to Frances? To Malcolm? Did they go up in flames – or drop back down to reality- French Exit?

 

“An absolute masterpiece!” #TonightWithTrav