Female Film Critics 24/375
Director Florian Zeller realistically depicts the mental confusion of octogenarian Anthony who weaves in and out of reality, struggling with a dementia he refuses to acknowledge, one symptom of his cognitive deterioration. Second, Anthony’s primary caregiver, daughter Anne, elicits empathy through scenes focusing on her painful coping.
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Michelle Pfeiffer’s icy, incandescent performance garnered her a Golden Globe nomination, even though Azazel Jacobs’ film leaves much to be desired. Pfeiffer plays elegant, entitled Frances Price, a once-wealthy Manhattan widow who has fecklessly blown through her late husband Frank’s fortune.
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Michelle Pfeiffer seems to have nine lives in French Exit. She is also a poster child for the wealthy WASP mavens of the last century who never ate, rarely emoted, smoked and drank heavily and were perfectly turned out at every waking moment. Women named Babe, Alva, Muffy and Cornelia.
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First seen sitting in a chair, reading a book while listening to classical music in his posh London flat, Anthony Hopkins delivers a heartbreaking performance as an 80-year-old gentleman trying to come to terms with the subtle disorientation of dementia. At this point, Anthony – that’s his character’s name, since director Florian Zeller wrote the role for Hopkins – barely recognizes his daughter, Anne (Olivia Colman), who is trying to introduce him to Laura (Imogen Poots), a new caregiver.
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There are some who think that Valerie Mahaffey ritzes up the joint, that she adds quirk and zest and uniqueitude. The character actress does just that to French Exit although the film is already a bit quirky and different, so Mahaffey fits right in with Michelle Pfeiffer and Lucas Hedges.
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Watch carefully as the introductory scene with the cuckoo birds shows how they trick other birds into raising their young. It’s a metaphor that foreshadows what’s about to unfold.
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Opening August 14, the AWFJ Movie of the Week is She’s Funny That Way, the new film from actor/writer/director Peter Bogdanovich (The Last Picture Show). Described as a screwball comedy in the same vein as Bogdanovich’s 1972 classic What’s Up Doc?, it follows the interconnected lives of the cast and crew of a Broadway show. The all-star ensemble features Imogen Poots, Jennifer Aniston, Kathryn Hahn, Owen Wilson and Will Forte, among others. Read on…
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