'French Exit' Trailer: Michelle Pfeiffer Goes Broke And Heads To Paris

The French Exit trailer is here, and it wants you to know one thing: Michelle Pfeiffer is great. Perhaps you didn't need to be reminded of that (I sure didn't), but that seems to be the film's biggest selling point. "Hey, Michelle Pfeiffer is in our damn movie!" this trailer screams. "Isn't that cool?" Yes, it is. In French Exit, Pfieffer plays a once-wealthy Manhattan socialite who loses her money and flees to Paris with her son, played by Lucas Hedges. Watch the French Exit trailer below.

One thing seems to be clear: the number one reason to watch French Exit is to see Michelle Pfeiffer. Nearly every review of the film has singled-out Pfieffer as the main draw here, and sure enough, this trailer is wall-to-wall with pull quotes about what a killer performance she gives. But what of the movie itself? What's it all about? Here's a synopsis:

"My plan was to die before the money ran out," says 60-year-old penniless Manhattan socialite Frances Price (Michelle Pfeiffer), but things didn't go as planned. Her husband Franklin has been dead for 12 years and with his vast inheritance gone, she cashes in the last of her possessions and resolves to live out her twilight days anonymously in a borrowed apartment in Paris, accompanied by her directionless son Malcolm (Lucas Hedges) and a cat named Small Frank—who may or may not embody the spirit of Frances's dead husband.

There's a cat, too? Man, this movie has everything. Reviewing for /Film, Marshall Shaffer said "The moments of brilliance are hilarious often, even magical sometimes. But they don't add up to much within the larger framework." But he also had plenty of praise for Pfeiffer and Hedges, writing:

French Exit does maintain some solid footing throughout thanks to the committed performances of co-leads Michelle Pfeiffer and Lucas Hedges. The pair stars as mother and son Frances and Malcolm, two bored Manhattanites blithely wallowing in their privileged ennui. Both performers commit to conveying a potent affect of gilded indifference underlining their every move, particularly in their line delivery. It's as if you can feel the wind sweeping their words away as they trail off at the end of every sentence.

In addition to Pfeiffer and Hedges, French Exit also features Valerie Mahaffey, Imogen Poots, Susan Coyne, Danielle Macdonald, Isaach De Bankolé, Daniel di Tomasso, and Tracy Letts. Look for it in select theaters on February 12, 2021.