I’ve grown so used to people coming abroad to the United States to play Americans, I kind of just forgot that that street could go both directions. It just rarely does. But hey, if you’re Jodie Foster, and you wanna do that French script that was sent to you, maybe it’s time to dust off the language lessons you immersed in at age 9?
A Private Life we’re getting glimpses into is Lilian Steiner (Foster), a psychiatrist living in Paris. Though, not the best one. She just had a patient, Pierre (Noam Morgensztern) stop sessions with her, pissed he didn’t see results. But that’s not her biggest issue; Lilian just received a call from Valerie Cohen-Solal (Luana Bajrami) that another of Lilian’s patients, Paula (Virginie Efira), just committed suicide. Worried for the lost soul she couldn’t save and, you know, possibly ending up in prison, Lilian starts a deep personal investigation into what happened to Paula, met with help from her ex husband Gabriel (Daniel Auteuil), skepticism from her son Julien (Vincent Lacoste), and outright hatred from Paula’s widow Simon (Mathieu Amalric), convinced this is Lilian’s fault.
A Private Life is so wonderfully French. The American version of this tale would have Liam Neeson going on a whodunit killing spree of some kind, uncovering a vast conspiracy against psychiatrists in the country. Here, Rebecca Zlotowski’s tale is…quite silly? For a movie about losing a loved one and troubles of the mind, we certainly spend a lot of time scampering with Lilian as she tries to uncover this “sinister” web of lies she’s found herself in. There’s danger yes, but more like the danger of a damaged reputation; they even show a gun, and make multiple points saying how it isn’t loaded and the “threat” has never really held one. And yet, this makes the threats more invasive and existential, and therefore, more personal, much better for the audience to connect with Lilian and her struggles. And when Gabriel comes back into the picture? Not for one second is he a suspect, even though they’re divorced. These little intricacies in the story make A Private Life a strange concoction to swallow, but it works more often than it doesn’t with a sly grin in tow.
Mostly because the movie is a reminder how great Jodie Foster can be when the material is right. You forget she’s an American half an hour in; her French is excellent. She’s bilingual in acting talents too, emoting wonderfully in French and English, using well placed curse words to remind us how flustered and angry she is in any moment. This farce slowly reveals itself to be a character study of Lilian; Foster digs deep into the character, revealing the layers upon layers a psychiatrist has to go through to find their own personal emotions instead of burying them for the sake of their patients, residing in their own heads. Helping her in this journey are two French acting legends Daniel Auteuil and Mathieu Amalric, enjoying their little supporting parts with aplomb; Amalric in particular should thank Zlotowski for the arc Simon gets to go on.
By the end, A Private Life is no more. But thanks to Jodie Foster, Daniel Auteuil and Mathieu Amalric, we’re all the better for it, living a little and learning a little about the furthest distance I’ve ever known. Evan and Jaron know what that is, and now you do too!