French Exit Review Movie
French Exit Review
There's a scene in French Exit where Frances (Michelle Pfeiffer) as the lead character who has been widowed in the film she says to her most trusted friends, "My life might be full of cliches but do you know what a cliché is? It's a story captivating and exquisite that it's gotten old in its optimistic adaptation." If this line was consciously humorous and not does not stop the screenwriter Patrick DeWitt's adaption of his story with the same title from being as cliché-ridden and tedious and gruelling.
The financial hardships of wealthy people is a popular storyline on the page and the screen in everything starting with Jane Austen's Persuasion through trading Places. The rich become poor, and viewers are required to sympathize with them when they adjust. French Exit leans into a more Schitt's creek-style from The Royal Tenenbaums approach, however, it doesn't have the same uniqueness or off-beat humor.
It's 100% the Pfeiffer show however, it's a battle to be concerned about Frances"one per cent" issues.
Frances is a popular socialite who became interested in her son following her husband's passing. A few years later they've repaid all of the inheritance, yet there are many people willing to lend a hand in Frances times in emergency, despite her blunt attitude and insecure judgment following the death of her husband. After Frances has been quietly auctioning off her possessions to raise money, her closest friend offers to sell her Parisian home so that Frances is able to escape the pending scandals from Manhattan society. Everything goes smoothly with her along with their child Malcolm (Lucas Hedges) take off for France on a cruise ship and are greeted by several hundred thousand euros, and the pet black cat.
Hedges exhibits a calm, reserved manner which is ideal for his angry young man who has a mummy issue however, his slender romantic story, which features Imogen Poots, who plays his angry wife Susan she is a bit forgettable. Pfeiffer however, exudes the sexiness of privilege to amazing effect. She performs Frances dialog with a sluggish attitude and her smug, stern eyes are stunning to watch. It's 100 percent the Pfeiffer show however, it's difficult to get to grips with Frances"one percent" issues, and her performance is sloppy when the oddities are needed.
The problem lies with the dull directions on Azazel Jacobs"part. The slow pace along with the dim lighting and framing create the world apathetic for Frances to live in, with the only shining light coming from Nick deWitt's piano music. Perhaps the dullness was intentional to convey the glamour has waned in Frances's world, however it results in a less visually exciting, exhausting tale and hinders the script's attempts to create comedy and surrealism. The film's characters are portrayed in a halfhearted manner who aren't nearly as entertaining, interesting or interesting as deWitt believes they are for instance, Danielle McDonald's undeveloped fortune-teller, and Valerie Mahaffey's Madame Reynard, a somewhat embarrassing Frances fangirl. At the end of the film, it's diverged from the explicit resolution of the novel to a more vague. A uninspiring note to conclude on in a movie rife with clichés about wealth family, class, and wealth, in a stale retelling.
