IN French Exit, a mother leaves home and brings her son to a new life that is more a destiny than a destination. In Ben is Back, a mother stays with her son until she finds peace in the act that only sons depart and mothers are always there to welcome them back. For all the serendipitous plots, no two films are more disparate, no two mother roles are more different from each other, and no two actresses are equidistant in approach to their roles and characters. But, in a sweet cinematic accident, the two films are bridged (years separate the productions) by a wonderful actor in the person of Lucas Hedges.
Hedges is the son to Michelle Pfeiffer’s mother in French Exit, and to Julia Roberts in Ben is Back. In the two films, he is the fulcrum that produces the balance as well as the imbalance of two adventures—one magical and other real.
Described as a black comedy-drama, French Exit is the story of a rich widow who gradually loses all her wealth. Instead of distressing over the situation, she marches to the exclusive boarding school and picks up her son she has never seen for years and flies off to Paris with him. With money that can be kept on the shelf of her closet, they start a life that unfolds each day.
In their transatlantic voyage, the mother and son opt to travel by ship, which allows them to smuggle a black cat into the country and up to the Parisian pied-à-terre lent to them by another
wealthy friend. The furry companion will turn out to be the factor that will determine their life.
Between the mother, Frances, and the son, Malcolm, is not only the cat but a clairvoyant woman the son meets and, according to the mother, gets to know carnally on the ship. They seek her out when the cat disappears into the night and this medium would
be added to a menagerie of characters in their journey. More would actually be part of the life of Frances and Malcolm beginning with the lady who invites them mysteriously one night to a mysterious party in her home. And who turns out to be not mysterious at all.
As Malcolm, Lucas Hedges is this ideal, uncomplaining man/child who follows everything what his mother tells him not because he is
spineless but simply because he loves and understands her. It is to the credit of Hedges that he does not vanish amid an ensemble of actors that include Valerie Mahaffey as Mme. Reynard, the giggly, nervous party hostess, and Danielle MacDonald, as Madeleine the seer.
As the object of this unconditional admiration and belief is Michelle Pfeiffer, intensely sophisticated, an actress who seems to belong to another era. She channels Duse and Davis with those flailing arm gestures, and whisks her hair from her face in an aria of mannerisms, a Kate Hepburn on the loose without the guttural voice.
Pfeiffer, however, does not go camp. In the end, as she walks off into the mist of Paris, she reminds us that death is nothing but a lovely farewell on a dear, perfumed season blown by an errant wind. The black cat following her into the night (or eternity) is a stamp of enchantment.
French Exit is directed by Azazel Jacobs. It is based on the novel of the same name written by Patrick deWitt, who also did the screenplay. The film is distributed through Sony Pictures Classics.
A more gripping Lucas Hedges is present in Ben is Back, the story of a young man who comes home on Christmas, surprising everyone including his mother who loves him unconditionally (there is that word again).
Ben is an addict and he is supposed to be in rehab. He tells his mom that his sponsor advised him a trip home on Christmas Eve should be good for him. Holly, Ben’s mother who is now married and has two other children, is worried how his presence would be a distraction and source of anxiety. Ivy, Ben’s sister, is not welcoming either, with memories of his past visits and misdemeanors. But Holly prevails over them, including Neal, the stepfather.
There is one condition: Ben can stay with them for a day, but he will be by Holly’s side for 24 hours. The next scene showing the mother in a hurry to hide all kinds of pills and all her jewelry is devastating.
Society, however, is unforgiving (or the neighborhood): Ben being around once more triggers various sad and bad responses. In all this, Holly, the mother, is steadfast. And when Ben disappears once more, Holly does not wait it out at home. She goes to the streets and braves the danger that her son now faces.
Julia Roberts is always an efficient actor. Sincere and open, Roberts in this film is daunting but also vulnerable. Out in the night in search of her son, she makes us nervous. And yet, in that lovely face is also a fierceness, this sense that all mothers are ready to die recklessly for their sons. Roberts, through the character she has fleshed out, is both a foil and a frame for us to understand—and marvel at—how a junkie is both brittle and brave, a being always on the brink of losing it.
The addict in Lucas Hedges is a startling revelation of how drug dependency of any kind should always be a big deal. No touchy-feely counseling can counter the depth of shame and hopelessness and helplessness of an addict. Hedges becomes Ben. No more and no less.
Ben is Back begins on Christmas eve and ends on Christmas Day. While the cat in French Exit vanishes into the mist, Ponce, the missing dog, is, at least found at the end, like Ben.
Ben is Back, released in 2018, is written and directed by Peter Hedges. It was released by LD Entertainment, Roadside Attractions and Lionsgate.
Both films are streaming on Netflix.