Film Review: A PRIVATE LIFE (2025): Jodie Foster is Back in a Fascinating Tale of Secrets and Self-Discovery
A Private Life Review
A Private Life /Vie privée (2025) Film Review, a movie directed by Rebecca Zlotowski, written by Anne Berest, Gaëlle Macé and Rebecca Zlotowski and starring Jodie Foster, Daniel Auteuil, Virginie Efira, Mathieu Amalric, Vincent Lacoste, Luàna Bajrami, Sophie Guillemin, Frederick Wiseman, Aurore Clément, Irène Jacob, Park Ji-min and Jean Chevalier.
Jodie Foster is back on the big screen in filmmaker Rebecca Zlotowski’s suspenseful character study, A Private Life. This French film maintains viewer curiosity as Foster’s character seems to be in peril at given times throughout the picture. While it doesn’t deliver on every possibility that it could have envisioned, the film is an assured outing that showcases the talent of the under-seen Foster who is welcome these days in any role, especially one with the substance this particular character has. Also cleverly employing the Talking Heads song, “Psycho Killer,” into the picture was a stroke of genius that earns the film serious brownie points.
In the film, the Oscar-winning Foster plays an American psychiatrist named Lilian Steiner who works in Paris. She’s been having a stroke of bad luck lately. As the film’s story line gets started, one of her male clients suggests that she isn’t helping him all that much and wants to quit using her services. This meeting helps hint at a hypnotism scene that comes later on involving Lilian, but we’ll get to that.
When Lilian calls a patient who hasn’t shown up to several sessions, it it soon revealed that the client, Paula (Virginie Efira), has committed suicide and it is later said that her husband, Simon (an intense Mathieu Amalric), is aware Lilian prescribed what were, perhaps, unnecessary doses of medicine to Paula. To help Lilian cope, she turns to her earnest ex-husband, Gabriel (Daniel Auteuil), a different type of doctor, himself. Lilian and Gabriel examine the case and rediscover feelings of affection for one another.
This film takes the viewer in several different directions. Lilian’s car gets vandalized, and, at one point, she goes to a hypnotist which leads Lilian to envision her and the deceased Paula seated together in an orchestra show. There’s also the character of Paula’s daughter (well-played by Luàna Bajrami) who comes into conversation with Lilian at a pivotal point in the film. A tape recording also disappears early on in the picture which prompts that something unexpected is going on. This movie focuses on whether Lilian was responsible (or guilty) of wrongdoing in the case at hand or if the death was, indeed, a murder or simply what it appeared to be right from the get-go.
Frederick Wiseman gets a solid scene with Foster as her former instructor, Dr. Goldstein, and the two performers play off each other perfectly in just a few brief moments together. However, the scenes that work best are between Auteuil and Foster in an on-screen marital bond that reminded me of the one Julia Roberts shared with Michael Stuhlbarg in After the Hunt. A Private Life is not quite as compelling as After the Hunt, though. It’s too messy with haphazard plot twists and one too many characters thrown in willy-nilly. Foster carries the movie through the slumps, though, and offers a performance that is among her most nuanced recent work to date.
A Private Life wants to do too many things and only does three quarters of them right. In examining Lilian’s family life, her deceased client’s life and those of her colleagues, it bites off more than it can chew at times. That doesn’t stop the viewer from becoming immersed in the material, but if the movie narrowed down its story line and fleshed a couple of the major plot threads out a bit more, it could have been a stronger film.
Jodie Foster never ceases to amaze. Her character development is always on-point throughout the picture. Lilian grows as a character and learns the errors of her ways with her clients and in her personal life as well by the time the movie reaches its conclusion. That ending, however, doesn’t answer all the questions the movie raises with a neat bow. Instead, it pushes the audience to think harder about therapy and its purpose as well as the way it should be practiced by those who try to help their clients live better lives. In addition, the use of a song like “Psycho Killer” by the Talking Heads gives the film a feeling that it’s a lot more clever than it lets on to us at times.
Though A Private Life is not the best work of Foster’s career, it’s a reminder that she’s one of the great actresses of our time. She embodies her role with passion and integrity. If the script had been a little more observant of certain plot developments, it could have made Foster shine even brighter. Of course, there’s the question of how far the writers of this film wanted to go with the material. It seems they wanted to put a lot of difficult subject matter into perspective, but, also, just scratch the surface of some of the heavier themes the movie presents. A Private Life isn’t exactly light fare, but it doesn’t come across as heavy as the subject matter it portrays, making it easily digestible viewing for those looking for a solid little thriller.
Rating: 7/10
Leave your thoughts on this A Private Life review and the film below in the comments section. Readers seeking to support this type of content can visit our Patreon Page and become one of FilmBook’s patrons. Readers seeking more film reviews can visit our Movie Review Page, our Movie Review Twitter Page, and our Movie Review Facebook Page. Want up-to-the-minute notifications? FilmBook staff members publish articles by Email, Mobile App, Google News, Apple News, Feedly, Twitter, Faceboo
Related Articles
