Review: French Exit

I knew nothing about the plot of this film going into it. All I knew was it starred Michelle Pfeiffer, and that was enough. I love Michelle Pfeiffer, and anytime she graces the screen, I’m inclined to watch. But just because a fantastic actress is in a film doesn’t mean it will turn out good.

French Exit has a great set-up. A widowed socialite, Frances Price (Michelle Pfeiffer), is running out of her late husband’s money. Frances decides to sell her remaining assets and move to Paris. She packs up her cat, Small Frank, who she believes holds her husband’s spirit, and her son Malcolm (Lucas Hedges), who leaves his fiancé (Imogen Boots) behind.

They travel to France on a Cruise where Malcolm meets a psychic named Madeleine (Danielle Macdonald), who senses something interesting about Small Frank.

Through many odd and bizarre scenes, we arrive at a seance where Madeleine can speak to Small Frank, and we learn a few interesting things about Frances and Franklins’ marriage.

French Exit is a dark comedy styled like a Woody Allen film mixed with the blasé characters from a Wes Anderson movie. And because of the actors and the style, I wanted to love this film; unfortunately, I didn’t.

After an exciting start, I just lost interest. This oddball comedy makes you let go of your sense of reality, but the film itself felt incomplete. Pfeiffer, however, does make a flat script seem brilliant. She embodies an Almost Moira Rose aesthetic (minus the accent) with a perfect sense of bizarre wit the film called for. 

For me, she is what made French Exit watchable. Unfortunately, it just becomes tiresome to get through about halfway in.