Be Ready to Make a FRENCH EXIT

 

Jeri Jacquin

Coming to DVD from director Azazel Jacobs and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment comes the story of family and truth when making a FRENCH EXIT.

Frances Price (Michelle Pfeiffer) is an heiress with financial difficulties. When her husband passes, Frances lives as if the money will last forever and, well, it does not. When the bank seizes her Manhattan home, a friend offers a rarely used Paris apartment for Frances and her son Malcolm (Lucas Hedges).

Malcolm does not know how to feel about moving since he is in a relationship with girlfriend Susan (Imogen Poots) and Frances has no idea. But staying loyal to his mother, they pack up along with feline Small Frank and head to Paris.

Frances settles in quickly as a change in location does not mean you can not be impeccably dressed or make sure the accessory martini glass is always full. Malcolm is not sure what he is supposed to do with his life now, but he is kept in the loop with Joan (Susan Coyne) entering into their life along with neighbor Ms. Reynard (Valerie Mahaffey).

If having the new two women in their life, and a lot of times in the apartment, is not interesting enough, when they call Madeleine the medium (Danielle Macdonald) it becomes serious. Joined by Small Frank, the medium gives a shocking affirmation to who has been with them for years.

They might be experiencing a change of address but more importantly they are experiencing a change in life.

Pfeiffer as Frances knows that her life is slowly and irreversibly changing but yet you would never know it by her attitude or her attire. She takes the attitude of not having to explain anything because nothing can be done anyway. Her sarcasm and one-liners remind me of a younger version of the Dowager from Downton Abbey. Of course, I love characters like that, so Frances kept me totally amused and enthralled.

Hedges as Malcolm does not understand how his mother has let them get into their current predicament. Not getting any real reason other than ‘the money is gone’, he accepts that they have to move and even goes along with it because, after all, it is what needs to be done for his mother. Yet, there is almost a freedom in this new life and Malcolm starts to give me hope that he will see it (I am always the hopeful for the underdog).

Mahaffey as Ms. Reynard is the stable person although her delivery is a tad different. That difference is misunderstood when Reynard and Frances meet but they are more alike than Frances would like to admit. Mahaffey is just so lovely! Coyne as Susan is an unexpected friend to both Frances and Malcolm. Coyne gives her character a no non-sense attitude but at the same time, clearly fits into the Frances-Reynard love fest.

Shout out to Macdonald for being the one to make it clear that this group belongs together with the addition of one more to complete the circle of their life change in Paris.

Other cast include Matt Holland as Headmaster, Robert Higden as Mr, Baker, Larry Day as Ralph Rudy, Isaach De Bankole as Julius, Daniel di Tomasso as Tom, Christine Lan as Sylvia, Eddie Holland as young Malcolm and Tracy Lets as Small Frank.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment encompasses motion picture production for television, digital content and theater releases. The studios include Columbia Pictures, Screen Gems, TriStar Pictures, Sony Pictures Animation, Stage 6 Films and Sony Picture Classics. To see what is coming to theaters and to home entertainment please visit www.sonypictures.com.

The Bluray, DVD and Digital Bonus Material include Deleted and Extended Scenes.

FRENCH EXIT is a uniquely different film that has the sense of family, loyalty, and friendship – its just that they do not know it yet. These characters are so removed from what we would know as reality, but it works for them in a hilarious way. Pfeiffer takes the lead as the person who accepts the world she has created and even when it comes crumbling around her, she raises a glass to the next life adventure or death, whichever comes first.

The cast together is sublime as they find ways to fit into each other’s lives because they do not seem to belong anywhere else. There is a connection between them that is undeniable although Frances would sarcastically say otherwise. They each have something to bring to the new posse they have created and its worth watching how it all fits.

In the end - it is about a mother, her son and a cat that start again in Paris.

It is the Song of a Generation with I AM WOMAN

 

Jeri Jacquin

Coming from director Unjoo Moon, Transmission Films, Quiver Distribution and Official Selection of the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival comes the story of a woman who could have never believed she would become an icon believing that I AM WOMAN.

Helen Reddy (Tilda Cobham-Hervey) is a young, single mother getting off a plane from Australia believing she has a record contract. Immediately Helen discovers that what she had been told was not quite true. Getting a job at a local dive to pay for food and a low rent room, she debates whether it is time to go home.

With another option, Helen finds her cousin Lilian (Danielle Macdonald) for help navigating the new big city. Lilian is a writer and knows that Helen has the talent but it is going to take breaking through barriers. A few months later she meets Jeff Wald (Evan Peters) who believes in her talent and makes grand promises for their future.

Moving to Los Angeles, Jeff makes his way into the music industry helping other acts find places to play and get attention. The one person he seems to have forgotten to help is his wife Helen. Becoming a disgruntled housewife, Helen knows the only way she is going to get her chance is if she creates it and throws down with Jeff.

Finally, Jeff gets a record deal for Helen and she is off like a rocket with fame and performing. Helen has what she has always dreamed of - an audience. Fame has its downside and Jeff is the wax on the slide headed that way. While she is working, Jeff is becoming the stereotypical manager.

Knowing that once again she must do whatever it takes, Helen knows it is time to save her career and have the life where she relies on no one else. Little did she know the impact one song would have on women and the cause of equality!

Cobham-Hervey as Helen starts out as a very naïve and inward songstress never stepping out of place. Knowing there is something more in her life, she just does not know how to break past all the nay-sayers to show what she can do. Cobham-Hervey slides into the role with ease and makes believing we are looking at Helen Reddy easy.

Peters as Wald is a husband who is infatuated with a songstress wife and the potential that could mean. Once he gets what he wants, it is easy to forget who is responsible for that. Even worse, he becomes the stereotypical music manager doing everything in excess - including the treatment of his own wife. Peters made it look way to easy!

Macdonald as Lilian believed in Helen from the beginning and was her touchstone. Once Helen became larger than life, she did what Wald did - move on without her. There is a moment of hurt that needed to play out and Macdonald does it with grace.

Other cast include Matty Cardarople as Roy Meyer, Jordan Raskopoulos as George Sylvia, Gus Murray as Paul Rankine, Molly Broadstock as Traci, Rita Ahuja as Maree, Dusty Sorg as Dany and Michael Taylor as David Dinkins.

Quiver Distribution helps filmmakers distribute to worldwide audiences on platforms such as iTunes, Google Play and Netflix. Premier works with every major studio and 100’s of independent distributors providing solutions and servicing their content in 100’s of digital retailers and broadcasters across the globe. For more information on Quiver Distribution please visit www.quiverdigital.com.

I AM WOMAN is the story of Helen Reddy that perhaps many people do not know, certainly I did not. I grew up with her music from the 70s and 80s and it made an impression for reasons I did not understand until years later. It was a case of singing the words and not really paying attention to what they meant.

The story is the good and bad mixed in with the times of woman not being able to break through in the music industry. Finding every excuse in the book to send Helen on her way, it was persistence that finally brought her to the top. The ride was not easy and should have been once she got to the top but again, her own husband had other plans.

If you are a Reddy fan, then I AM WOMAN is a must-see. The music is there, and the costuming was a nice way to bring back memories of that time in music and of the times in general. Reddy did not realize what impact her song I Am Woman would have until she saw it for herself, what an experience that must have been.

In the end - her song inspired a revolution!