Directed by Azazel Jacobs
Written by Patrick DeWitt (based on his novel)
Starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Lucas Hedges, Imogen Poots, Valerie Mahaffey, and Danielle Macdonald
MPA rating R for discussions of suicide, cat fights, bottomless cocktails, and rich people ennui
Running time 1 hour 50 minutes
In theaters April 2

by Jaime Davis, The Fixer, Staff Writer

This one time, in college, I had to do a presentation in front of about 100 fellow students. It was for one of my film courses, the name of which I can’t remember, and as a film and media arts major in the late 90’s / early aughts, most of my classmates were obsessed with modern gangster-y films like Pulp Fiction and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Seriously, I can’t tell you how many times someone recommended The Boondock Saints to me in school. In protest, I still haven’t watched The Boondock Saints. Yes, I know Norman Reedus is in it. I love Norman Reedus. For those of you reading who love The Boondock Saints, I’m sure it’s really good. I believe you. But I will not be watching The Boondock Saints. 

So I had to do this presentation where I dissect a scene from any film that inspired me. ANY FILM IN THE WORLD. And out of all the films ever created in this big, beautiful filmic universe of ours, I chose the montage scene in Rob Reiner’s forgettable 1999 sap fest, The Story of Us, partly to troll my peers who made me sit through countless dissections of Reservoir Dogs and True Romance, but also because I really just like Michelle Pfeiffer. She’s great in pretty much everything, yet I feel she doesn’t always get the real love she deserves. 

So listen, I like Pulp Fiction and Lock, Stock and Reservoir Dogs and True Romance and Snatch as much as the next person. I’m not throwing shade on these movies, though it sounds like I was. To be honest, I think I was a bit of a brat in college, that’s one, and two, there was a lot of conformity in film school that I wasn’t expecting. Many students liked the same things and fell in line with a particular film ideology, so to speak. I wonder if that was unique to my school, or a phenomenon of the times? I’ll never know. So if you enjoy these movies, I get it! I like them too, I do. 

Okay, so. The Story of Us. Montage. I picked a montage! And I proudly, without shame, in front of 1-0-0 of my peers talked about how this (ridicuuuulous) montage so cleverly showed the passing of time and rollercoasters of a modern relationship with heart. Ugh. I still get embarrassed for myself whenever I remember this. Anyway. 

That brings me back to: Michelle Pfeiffer! I was super excited last fall when I learned that, guess what, Michelle Pfeiffer was back! Her latest release, French Exit, heralded her triumphant return to cinema since…2019’s Maleficent: Mistress of Evil. And Avengers: Endgame. Okay, so maybe Michelle Pfeiffer hadn’t actually gone anywhere but French Exit found her back at the front, headlining a film in all of her regal glory. 

French Exit, based on the novel by Patrick DeWitt, is a lively tale of New York City elite gone sour–for all their money and power and leisurely lunches, no one seems very happy in this world, notably Frances Price (Pfeiffer), who lurks about her Manhattan mansion with stunted, devoted son Malcolm in tow (Lucas Hedges). When their financial circumstances force them out of their home, instead of facing things head on, Frances, at the suggestion of her sweet friend, Joan (Susan Coyne), decides to slink away to Joan’s Parisian apartment, far from the prying eyes of Gossip Girl and Manhattan society.

Of course Malcolm is along for the ride, despite his secret engagement to Susan (Imogen Poots), as is the family cat, who holds a secret of its own (voiced by the great Tracy Letts). They head to Europe via cruise liner across the Atlantic, and I appreciate Lucas Hedges for starring in not one, but TWO films in 2020 where he accompanies cool older ladies on boats between New York and Europe (the other being Let Them All Talk). And so, as they leave their gilded lives behind, they set forth on an adventure that brings them into the orbit of a sassy medium (Danielle Macdonald), the nervous and adoring Mme. Reynard (the charming Valerie Mahaffey), and inquisitive private detective Julius (Isaach De Bankolé). Just when you think you have a sense of where the story is going, it steers you in a slightly more bizarre direction, only to end up somewhere close to where you thought you might end up. The story includes elements of the absurd with dashes of magical realism thrown in for good measure, adding up to a delightfully, if a bit sad, good time. 

As far as society mavens go, Frances Price is no serene Vanderbilt or Astor or Rockefeller. Instead, she has a reputation as being odd and difficult, with a particular penchant for making people uncomfortable, from homeless men to police officers to her financial manager. At times, Frances’ behavior feels troubling, suggesting an unwell quality to her overall pathology. However, what I love most about the character, and Pfeiffer’s biting, amusing portrayal, is her curiosity–she’s genuinely interested in different people’s lives, the “lottery” of life as she refers to it–she just has a really weird way of showing it. And that, to me, is much of what French Exit explores–life is indeed a lottery at times; some consider themselves lucky, unlucky, or neither. The story brings together a gaggle of folks who ordinarily probably wouldn’t spend much time together. But towards the end of the film, there they are, crowded in Joan’s (absolutely perfect) Paris apartment: Frances, Malcolm, Cat, Madeleine the medium, Mme. Reynard, Joan, and Julius. Oh! Then Susan and her new boyfriend Tom, who works in finance, show up. It’s a fascinating character study with elements of the fantastical that make this movie shine. To say much more about the plot, I think, would take away from some of the pleasure of watching French Exit unfold for the first time, so I’ll quit while I’m ahead. 

My first time watching the film was back in October and I remember walking away from it with the sense that something was missing–an overall aesthetic vision that matched the more whimsical moments of the story. I likened French Exit to a Wes Anderson film without all the Wes Anderson, and for some reason, at the time, I saw that as a detriment to the movie itself. But after watching again, I feel much stronger that the film doesn’t need any distinct visual markers to make it special–even though the look and feel is a bit standard in the way of visual storytelling, its effervescent script, game performances, and romantic backdrops of Manhattan (with Montréal playing stand-in) and real-life Paris makes French Exit a confection all on its own. What it lacks in razzle dazzle it makes up for in spades with Pfeiffer’s sparkling performance alone. 

If I was in film school today, and had to do that scene dissection project again, maybe I’d talk about French Exit. Sure, there are like a million amazing movies to choose from and making a decision would be tough, but French Exit would be in the running for sure. But not The Boondock Saints. Don’t even suggest it!