TOMORROW BELONGS TO ME // A FILM REVIEW OF "FRENCH EXIT"
Tales of the rich are notoriously ripe for satire, especially on the stage and screen. In the 90's, no one brought the light the absurd lives of the wealthy while still getting us to care about some of them more than Wilt Stillman. Cross him with a dash of Wes Anderson and you'll start to get a feel for director Azazel Jacobs vision for FRENCH EXIT, a strange, odd and very funny riff on someone in that 1.0%. It's also a hell of a showcase for Michelle Pfeiffer, who turns in one of the best performances of her career. She plays Frances Price, a woman who has become filthy rich through a marriage that wasn't quite the fairy tale live. Though now, she's informed that she has exhausted her inheritance and has no money left. Her accountant suggests the only thing she can do is to sell her assets and take the cash. So that's exactly what she does, and tell her only son Malcolm (Lucas Hedges) that they're moving to Paris. Tomorrow.
Malcolm, for his part, seems stuck in an arrested development. At least in his relationship. His girlfriend Susan (Imogen Potts) is unsure why Malcolm won't tell his Mother about their relationship. He claims that she won't approve, but largely doesn't seem to have the nerve, or want the nerve, to tell her. Susan is confused why he would give up everything and just head to Paris for a woman who doesn't really care too much for her. But Malcolm doesn't quite know how to break the cycle of being a spectator of his own life and heads off with his mother to the city of lights. From there, things get stranger and stranger, from a French private eye's deadpan delivery, a medium who correctly predicts the death of a man while on a transatlantic boat ride, a "fan" of Frances in desperate need of a friend, and a talking cat, who may be the spirit of Frances' dead husband (voiced by Tracy Letts).
Based on his own novel, screenwriter Patrick DeWitt's script is almost magically witty. It's a peek inside the minds of some truly bizarre people, who spend beyond their means and, in Frances case, don't give a damn about anyone's rules. She is a fascinating character and Pfeiffer nails every moment. Her relationship with her son is central to the film, and Hedges supplies a quiet and assured performance, resentful of his mother but also joyful of the attention he know receives (something that didn't happen until his father had passed). They also are a joy to watch embrace the stranger elements of the film and seem to control every breath themselves. The rest of the ensemble cast bring wonderful moments to the proceedings as this strange bird of a film, with its assured direction by Jacobs and bitterly comic words by DeWitt, sweeps us up completely into its madness.
GRADE: A-
BASED ON THE NOVEL AND ADAPTED BY Patrick DeWitt DIRECTED BY Azazel Jacobs STARRING Michelle Pfeiffer, Lucas Hedges, Tracy Letts, Valerie Mahaffey, Susan Coyne, Imogen Poots, Danielle Macdonald, Isaach De Bankolé, Daniel di Tomasso. Featred as part of the 2020 New York Film Festival. For more information: https://www.filmlinc.org/nyff2020/films/french-exit/