#frenchexit

Author: Patrick Dewitt

Published by: Bloomsbury

Pages: 244

Format: Paperback

My Rating ★★★★

Frances Price is in fire straits. Scandals swirl around the recently widowed New York socialite, and her adult-aged, toddler-brained son Malcolm is no help.

Cutting their losses, they grab their cat, Small Frank, and head for the exit. Paris becomes the backdrop for a giddy drive to self-destruction, helped along by a cast of singularly curious characters.

Brimming with pathos, warmth and wit, French Exit is a riotous send-up of high society and a moving story of mothers and sons.

My thoughts

The central characters of French Exit are Franklin, his widow Francis and their son Malcolm. Before his untimely death, Franklin Price made a fortune as a ruthless and ethically dubious lawyer. When we meet Frances, it is 20 years after Franklin's death and she has blown through his entire fortune.

Frances Price has always been formidable, and her name is well known around the Upper East Side. She is known for her beauty, snobbery, and especially for scandal.  Years ago when she found her husband dead from a heart attack, she left their home and went on a ski trip, not even bothering to inform anyone of his death. This has left tongues wagging for twenty years but a new scandal is on the looming: she's pretty much broke.

I really liked the way Dewitt wrote about New York and Paris, and it was interesting to see the how these characters within the two different settings. Paris was especially intriguing, as we are taken on the journey with them as Frances and Malcolm each try to adjust and adapt to their new home.

If you're in the mood for a light, humorous, witty read, then you'll enjoy this book a lot. I was very quickly drawn in and really liked reading this one. Dewitt’s writing is so distinctive, and his real in this book is in the way he has been able to create such engaging characters that do really eccentric things yet become endearing.  From the very first page until the last, his prose is sharp, thought provoking, darkly humorous and totally enchanting.

Frances, in particular, is just so fascinating to read about and she is probably best described as a widow, possessive mother, and Upper East Side force of nature.I loved her constantly unpredictable behaviour, and these moments were perfect balanced alongside an occasional glimpse of her more vulnerable side. Malcolm is very self-involved and appears to be quite emotionless in the way he interacts with his (sort of) girlfriend Susan for much of the story. However, the more we learn about Malcolm’s life the more obvious it seems that his behaviour is perhaps mostly due to the strange upbringing he received after his father died and Frances immediately removed him from boarding school. The flashback scenes worked really well in offering more insight into his character. I felt at many points during the book that he was simply helpless and completely unaware of how to actually exist in the real world.

Arguably the strangest character is of course the family cat, Small Frank. It all got a bit weird towards the end of the book when several chapters were dedicated purely to Small Frank and his time exploring the streets of Paris alone, stuck in a kind of existential crisis. I mostly liked these scenes, but I must admit that my interest began to dwindle a little when he began ‘talking’ with Frances and Malcolm. Things seemed to reach a whole new level of absurd here, and I’m not totally convinced it worked within the story. However, despite this blip things soon got back on track and I felt the remainder of the book was more fitting and absorbing. I don’t want to give too much away, but the ending felt very poignant and well suited to the already very dark humour of this story and these troubled characters.

French Exit is ultimately a touching story about people and their desire for connection. It is about their flaws, vulnerability and ultimately their humanity.  The book is beautifully written, at times hilarious, and riddled with bizarre moments, including one of the most unforgettable cats I've ever read about. The book is an extremely quirky read and explores the pointlessness of life. The author targets high society in this dark comedy with a few occasions of insightful wisdom and many eyebrow-raising conversations along the way.

I found this to be a quirky, addictive, witty and highly entertaining short read from an author with a very original and distinctive voice. It is a fun and surprising read to enjoy over the summer.

Overall reaction:

There is something truly special about discovering a movie you’ve not heard of, purposely avoiding promotional materials in order to go in with the purest approach possible, and then, despite years of film viewing and analysis, finding yourself truly captivated by the journey a film presents with little to no clue where the journey will leave you.  Pardon that extremely intense run-on sentence, but it best describes my experience with French Exit.

Initially, it is hard to put a finger on how one is supposed to take French Exit in, but as the story unfolds (especially in two key areas where it takes the boldest of giant steps), the idea of passive-aggressive value starts to take hold, which is a concept that mirrors the melancholy dark humor that fuels the narrative.  The boldest example of this can be found in the way that Frances Price literally sets her money up as a timer for her expiration, which is ironic considering she played life previous to our entry point in the story in a reverse manner where she assumed she’d expire before the money did.  With this new assignment to the last thing of “value” she holds (other than her son Malcolm, who she ultimately wants to be free though she never outright states it), her nonchalance towards the way she doles out the money is both alarming to us while being unburdening to Frances, which creates that rare situation in which the tension exists between onscreen characters and viewers.  With this self-appointed sense of urgency in the air, the value of everyone’s relationship dynamics and interpersonal communication is suddenly thrown under viewer examination in light of how striking Frances’ choice is.

Much like Frances marches into the unknown with a private sense of knowing, we as viewers are pushed into two moments of panic that gives us an indication of how fragile things are : Frances removing Malcolm from his school (which we later find out took place immediately after Frances was released from jail in light of her actions after discovering Frank was dead), followed by a flash-forward to her notification that Frank’s money and assets are going back to the bank (which will leave Frances and Malcolm penniless).  While not directly spelled out, Joan’s recommendation that Frances head to Paris is a subtle indicator of where Frances will end up (which is nicely tied up in the penultimate scene).  The general stillness and acceptance of these fates creates a sort of blank slate aura that somehow allows us as viewers to accept the initial baby step (and eventual forward leap) into the world of the mystic, which helps cleanly separate the story into a beautiful rise and fall.

The odd mood that the story sets is bolstered by the muted, worn-out book page look that the color-timing employs.  There are also moments of striking use of lighting, especially in the apartment, which is especially impressive in light of the fact that the production team used the cheat code of making New York and Paris the main locations.  Speaking of great locations, the interiors and the exteriors of the ship that takes Frances and Malcolm to France is also a great set piece.  The way that the extremely dark humor is balanced against very nuanced and reserved performances is an achievement in terms of strong direction, and while this film will likely not get a Best Director nod during awards season, it is worth recognizing how well Azazel Jacobs is able to walk his cast down the path.  The muted chamber-style score helps sell the dark tone while also giving the film the feel of a play in the vein of Death of a Salesman.

Michelle Pfeiffer has carved herself a long and fruitful career out of using her stunning beauty and stirring intensity to great effect in her roles, and that practice continues with French Exit, but without making it blatant, she adds in touches of despair, romantic longing and existential dread in her march towards her accepted ending.  It took me a while to peg where I recognized Lucas Hedges from (it was Mid90s), and while I wasn’t necessarily the biggest fan of how stoic and defeated he played his role for the most part, it does seem necessary, as it makes the two moments that he accepts his inner pain and sadness pop, meaning the performance was clearly a calculated choice.  Danielle Macdonald does a fabulous job of being the first indicator of where things will take us with her standoffish persona and seeming mystic ability, and when she is not around, her energy is counterbalanced by the fabulously abstract and sincere humor that emerges from Valerie Mahaffrey’s consistent scene-stealing appearances.  Isaach de Bankolé brings some additional sincerity to the table in tandem with a dose of healthy curiosity, while supporting appearances by Imogen Poots, Daniel Di Tomasso, Susan Coyne, Eddie Holland and a voice only role by Tracy Letts fill out the small but powerful ensemble cast.

First look at French Exit

A new trailer has been released for French Exit, which is set to release February 12, 2021.