Jodie Foster plays whip-smart psychiatrist Lilian Steiner in this witty, sophisticated and pleasantly original whodunnit from Rebecca Zlotowski, following her acclaimed 2022 drama Other People’s Children.
In A Private Life, Foster’s Lilian is a fluently French-speaking psychiatrist who has spent much of her life absorbed by the qualms and concerns of her patients while remaining stubborn about her own. She has noisy neighbours, a complicated relationship with her son, and is about to get sued by patient Pierre (Noam Morgensztern).
Oh, and on top of all of that, her eyes just won't stop watering.
Lilian hasn’t heard from another of her patients, Paula Cohen-Solal (Virginie Efira), in a quite some time, and it soon becomes clear that she’s died.
It’s a suicide, says Paula’s daughter Valerie (Luàna Bajrami) and hostile husband Simon (Mathieu Amalric) but Lilian isn’t convinced, and after a particularly nasty experience at Paula's funeral, she becomes consumed by uncovering what really happened to her – and understanding why she feels such a deep connection to the woman she barely knew off the therapy couch.
Although from this point, the feature mostly concerns itself with finding out what happened to Paula, Zlotowski and co-writers Anne Berest and Gaëlle Macé are just as interested in exploring the compelling characters surrounding the mystery.
Lilian’s relationships with those around her, particularly her son Julien (Vincent Lacote) and ex-husband Gabriel (Daniel Auteuil), are explored with great depth, at times, whether intentionally or not, diverting its audience’s interests more towards Lilian’s emotional entanglements than the method of Paula’s possible murder.
In this sense, it’s a welcome departure from the classic, more mechanical conventions of the whodunnit, a sub-genre which has been re-popularised over the last decade largely by Rian Johnson’s crowd-pleasing Knives Out series.
Unlike such other entries in the sub-genre, which often struggle to explore characters beyond their motives, A Private Life is also interested in examining the guilt and grief felt by its players.
It’s not obsessed with overcrowding the narrative, forcing suspects into a story they do not belong just to keep the audience dangling painfully between possibilities. Instead, it supplies us with a pool of well-crafted options, then works to build texture on top of them.
Such emphasis on character is elevated by a group of first-class performances from the film's cast. Foster is fascinating, funny and naturally charismatic as Lilian, and her chemistry with the film’s ensemble – particularly Auteuil’s Gabriel – is impressive.
Meanwhile, as in Other People’s Children, Zlotowski again makes use of the impeccable talents of Efira, here in a smaller but vital role. Even with limited screen time, appearing mostly in soft, halo-lit flashbacks, Efira’s ethereal appearances bring an elusive interest to Paula’s mystery that is only heightened by some dreamlike cinematography from Georges Lechaptois.
Elsewhere, moments of surrealism are a bold but effective choice from Zlotowski. Early in the film, Lilian seeks the help of a hypnotist, who encourages her to open a series of mental doors – resulting in her becoming convinced she’s experienced a past life.
Further bizarre, uncomfortable sequences also elevate the film's mysterious tone, complementing Lilian’s possibly unravelling mental state. There are flashes of untidiness within these scenes, with much left for audience interpretation – and at times, they certainly do enough to muddle the film’s tone – though their inclusion is not entirely without merit.
View Green Video on the source websiteAs with most films of its genre, there are times when A Private Life's narrative feels inordinately convenient, such as when a receptionist is called away at exactly the right moment to give Lilian just enough time to search through records for information she needs, though such moments are ultimately too infrequent to prove distracting.
The film's final act also may not completely satisfy every viewer, as there seems to have been room to explore its implications further, especially given the film’s relatively concise runtime.
Even so, such imperfections do little to diminish the feature’s overall effect: for its purpose was never solely to solve Paula’s potential murder, but also to explore the response to her passing – and with a sharp script, an excellent ensemble and more than enough style, A Private Life proves itself to be a refreshing addition to the whodunnit canon.
A Private Life will be released UK cinemas on Friday 26 June.
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