French Exit

Frances is the protagonist of the novel, the mother of Malcolm, and the wife of Franklin. She is described as “a moneyed, striking woman of sixty-five years” (3), and her great beauty is remembered and still remarked upon. She is a regular at a café in Paris where the staff “called her Jackie O for her coldness, her inscrutability, her fashionable beauty” (139). This appearance of coldness and reserve, and Frances’s ruthless evocation of her wealth and status, are characteristic and serve to prevent her from Finding Connection to Others through emotion and vulnerability.

Frances’s family is wealthy, and she has grown up as Manhattan aristocracy, but throughout her life, she has made a habit of scandalous behavior. Even after her death, the police detective recognizes her name and connects it to her behavior when Franklin died years ago. Frances might be said to live by the motto “never complain, never explain.” When she tells the story of Franklin’s death years later, her behavior is easily understood as both shock and an unwillingness to deal with the death.

Frances’s journey, as she has defined it, revolves around her “two-part plan,” in which she decides to divest herself of all her money, and then die by suicide.