Part of the Gala Presentations at TIFF this year, I was an easy sell with A PRIVATE LIFE, Jodie Foster and the promise that this was a french-speaking role for one of my favourite actors of all time.
About: Academy Award winner Jodie Foster stars in this scintillating, slyly comic psychological thriller from French director Rebecca Zlotowski (TIFF ’22’s Other People’s Children), in which a suspicious death yields a series of twists that lead back to old grievances — and maybe even to past lives.
Lilian (Foster), an American psychoanalyst in Paris, is devastated to learn that her client Paula (Virginie Efira) has taken her own life. Or has she? Visits from Paula’s furious widower Simon (Mathieu Amalric) and taciturn daughter Valérie (Luàna Bajrami), along with the discovery that files have been stolen from Lilian’s office, suggest that Paula may have fallen victim to foul play.
Assisted by her ex-husband Gabriel (Daniel Auteuil), Lilian undertakes some amateur sleuthing. Her initial investigations prompt more questions than answers until a session with a hypnotherapist causes Lilian to wonder whether her relationship with Paula began in a previous incarnation.
Written by Zlotowski with Anne Berest (Mythomaniac) and Gaëlle Macé (TIFF ’24’s Little Jaffna), A Private Life deftly rides the delicate line between intrigue and zaniness. Perfectly paced and loaded with diverting supporting turns — including a cameo by legendary documentarian Frederick Wiseman — the film is partly a whodunnit and partly a story of revisited relationships, with a French-speaking Foster and Auteuil delivering effortlessly charismatic performances as long-time exes whose teamwork creates the film’s other big mystery: why did these two ever break up?
(Note: the above was provided from the official festival program.)
Reaction: Jodie Foster leads a terrific French cast with almost ALL of the usual suspects like Daniel Auteil, Matthew Amalric, Virgine Efira just to name a few in this very pulpy and twisty thriller that pulls out nearly all the stops in this investigation of a recent death that brings back a lot of buried pasts. A PRIVATE LIFE comes from filmmaker Rebecca Zlotowski who is well known on the festival circuit for OTHER PEOPLE’S CHILDREN (still unseen by me) but I really remember her for 2010’s DEAR PRUDENCE which has one of my favourite performances by Lea Seydoux. She has such a great control over her visual look and tone here, even right down to some artful titles to open the movie, along with this great ensemble.
On a more personal note, I also was happy to get a great needle drop from The Talking Heads with its use of PSYCHO KILLER in such an imaginative manner. Any STOP MAKING SENSE reference is of course okay as it’s my favourite movie, of course!
Aside from that, A PRIVATE LIFE is such a strong movie led by Foster in the heavy Nancy Drew-style role (I also saw this style in another TIFF title this year called GHOST SCHOOL) and supported by such a memorable team with such a twisty storyline that I look forward to seeing again when it comes out as I feel I missed so many great details with so many films seen at TIFF this year!
Release Notes: The fine folks at Mongrel Media along with Sony Pictures Classics are releasingg this one out I believe early next year. We will update when we know more!