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'French Exit': Robin's Movie Review

A movie poster for the film "French Exit." Michelle Pfeiffer and Lucas Hedges are sitting in the back of a car with a black cat between them. They are both looking forward with straight faces.
Sony Pictures

KUNR entertainment reviewer Robin Holabird says the movie French Exit is a dramatic and comedic adventure buoyed by one of Hollywood's most accomplished actresses.

A cat and Paris help Michelle Pfeiffer make a French Exit. And she, in turn, helps make the movie succeed.

Pfeiffer brings ideal qualities for playing her distinct role, a high society socialite famous over many decades for her remarkable beauty. Just as Pfeiffer repeatedly demonstrates selective intelligence in the roles she plays, her character Frances displays unique perception. The elegant Frances knows how to rise above the mundane and expected as she pursues a life full of material pleasures.

Realizing the precarious state of her finances, she makes a “French Exit,” or quick departure, without any formal goodbyes. Joined by her adult son and a black cat, she heads to a friend’s apartment in Paris with frequent off-the-wall experiences surrounding her. Slightly surreal with humor resembling farce, French Exit amuses those able to laugh at events that lack slapstick, physical comedy.

Adapting his novel, French Exit author Patrick DeWitt provides a mix of oddball situations and clever dialogue. Director Azazel Jacobs handles the material with an appropriately light touch, benefitting tremendously from cast members who stay in tune with the story’s eccentric elements. Lucas Hedges of Manchester by the Sea adds Pfeiffer to his growing list of impressive screen mothers, having already played son to Frances McDormand and Julia Roberts in other movies. Another cast member, Tracy Letts, uses his sonorous voice to good effect.

But of course, a star vehicle for the luminescent Pfeiffer means the actress stands out and carries the film with the grace and style that made her a star decades ago. Not considering herself as one of the great unwashed masses, Frances, as played by Pfeiffer, is a woman who remains remarkably accepting of others, a trait that makes her ultimately likable. The actress brings a knowing weariness to the role as a woman who understands where life has taken her. That place may seem bizarre to some, but it also proves an amusing respite from a world full of serious catastrophes.

The movie opened in theaters on April 2.

Robin Holabird is KUNR's entertainment reviewer, author and former film commissioner for the Nevada Film Office. You can find her full film review archive here.

Robin Holabird reviews movies for KUNR, and her reviews have aired for more than 30 years. During that time, she has had a high profile in the Nevada film community.
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