The first trailer for Michelle Pfeiffer’s latest film French Exit has been released, ahead of its February 2021 release date.
French Exit is directed by Azazel Jacobs and is based on Patrick DeWitt’s novel of the same name, who also adapted the screenplay. The film sees Pfeiffer as Frances, an American socialite who uses the last of her late husband’s inheritance by moving from New York City to Paris with her son (Lucas Hedges). They try to rediscover a meaning to life through Transatlantic boat crossings, tiny rented apartments and wandering the streets of Paris. The two are also accompanied by their pet cat, “who may or may not be the spirit of Frances’s late husband,” who is voiced by Tracy Letts.
The recurring theme of black comedy is common in all of DeWitt’s novels, with the 2018 film The Sisters Brothers also being an adaptation of his work. This is DeWitt’s second feature film collaboration with Jacobs, having written the screenplay for Jacobs’s 2011 film Terri. Letts also previously collaborated with Jacobs, playing the main role in the 2017 film The Lovers. Production took place on location in Paris in 2019, whereas Montreal stood in for scenes in New York City.
French Exit had its premiere as the Closing Night Selection at the New York Film Festival in October. The film received a warm reaction from critics, with Pfeiffer and Hedges’s performances gaining praise. The satirical take on family life drew comparisons to Wes Anderson’s The Last Tenenbaums, whereas the screenplay to the likes of Noah Baumbach.
French Exit is currently scheduled to be released in the UK on 26 February. It will be distributed by Sony Pictures Classics. However, it could follow in the common footsteps of other imminent releases and have its date pushed back or postponed. Fingers crossed it doesn’t.
Words by Sarah Storer
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