In the French dramedy-thriller A Private Life, Jodie Foster is sent spiraling on an occasionally-funny, occasionally-thrilling investigation.
Jodie Foster plays Lilian, a psychiatrist in Paris whose work has completely surpassed her personal life. Her son, Julien (Vincent Lacoste), feels she doesn’t visit his growing family often. She uses a checkup as an excuse to see her optometrist ex-husband (Daniel Auteuil). She speaks French far more often than her native English (Foster, a known Francophile, hasn’t spoken French on film since A Very Long Engagement in 2005). The most exciting, or perhaps just jarring, thing that’s happened to her is a client who feels hypnotism was more helpful in resolving his issues than having her as a psychiatrist.
The only thing bugging Lilian these days is the absence of Paula (Virginie Efira), a client who has failed to show up for three sessions and won’t pick up the phone. Nothing seemed amiss in their sessions, which is why Lilian’s surprised to discover Paula has died. The police, and Paula’s hostile husband (an underutilized Mathieu Amalric), have ruled it a suicide. Lilian begins to suspect Paula’s cryptic daughter Valérie (Luàna Bajrami) might have something to do with Paula’s death. And so begins the mystery at the heart of A Private Life. Was Paula suicidal and Lilian was oblivious to it? Or, as Lilian comes to suspect, was it actually a murder?
A psychiatrist turned amateur sleuth.
Photo Credit: Sony Pictures Classics
It’s an intriguing premise for either a quirky black comedy or a chilling thriller. A Private Life desperately wants to be both, but commits to neither tone, adding up to an uneven execution. Lilian’s investigation is at times funny, and Foster is more than up for the job of playing someone who has accidentally stumbled into a possible murder investigation. Like almost every project she takes on, Foster is the reason to watch the film.
Her engaging performance as Lilian bounces between worlds and languages. Lilian is an American who has spent decades in France, and her investigation takes her from reality to the depths of her subconscious. Remember the hypnotist mentioned earlier? Maybe the Chekhov’s gun trope should be renamed “Chekov’s hypnotist.”
It’s a good dramedy, it’s a good thriller, but can it be both?
Robin Coudert’s score veers toward the jaunty and it leads to what could be a brilliant piece of charming black comedy, the kind of thing your mom watches on an airplane or you discover at an arthouse cinema on a Saturday morning. But when A Private Life changes gears, it changes styles. Lilian’s foray into hypnotism and serious investigation jars the film into becoming a more serious thriller, and loses the artistic voice it had spent its first act building.
The bottom line.
Writer-director Rebecca Zlotowski builds a promising film in A Private Life. It utilizes its leading lady superbly, and has a great command of tone within its subgenres. It’s the kind of film where the individual parts are greater than the sum. Maybe that’s the real creative mystery—making a multi-genre film where the parts sing in harmony. In the meantime, perhaps this is the beginning of an exciting phase in Jodie Foster’s career: the French arthouse era. Work with Justine Triet or Coralie Fargeat next, please!
A Private Life is now playing in select theaters. Watch the trailer here.
Images courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics. Read more articles by Claire Di Maio here.
REVIEW RATING
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A Private Life - 6/10
6/10
Claire was once asked in elementary school why her go-to question was always, “Watch anything good lately?” It’s still her go-to question, because she loves hearing what other people are passionate about. She often sacrifices sleep in the hopes that she will one day clear her to-watch and to-read lists (a futile effort so far).
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