By Susan Granger
Not one of Jodie Foster’s best films but unusual because – in her protagonist performance – she speaks impeccable French, making “A Private Life” more of a curiosity than a ‘must see.’
When Paris-based American psychoanalyst Lilian Steiner (Foster) learns that her patient of nine years, Paula (Virginie Efira), committed suicide, she sets out to prove that she was actually murdered, enlisting help from her ex-husband, Gabriel (Daniel Auteuil), an ophthalmologist.
Suspects include Paula’s pregnant daughter Valerie (Luana Bajrami) and philandering husband Simon (Mathieu Amalric).
Along the way, Lilian consults a hypnotist (Sophie Guillemin) and enters a hallucinatory dream state in which she and her late patient were sapphic lovers in a previous life – as cellists in an orchestra in the early 1940s during the Nazi occupation.
While it’s not the first time Foster has acted in French, it’s the most significant French-speaking role she’s played. The director, Rebecca Zlotowski, co-wrote the script with Anne Berest–with Foster in mind.
This Hitchcockian drama has tinges of a noir-ish psychological thriller but never quite comes together convincingly. In Variety, Zlotowski described Foster’s stoic, stubborn character as “a very bad therapist in the beginning who becomes a slightly better therapist at the end.” Regrettably, it’s not much of a breakthrough.
In the New York Times, Foster called this film “a trial balloon,” with perhaps more to come. “I am a different person in that language,” she noted. “I have a whole host of other things to express. I would maybe even like to direct in French.”
Background: From the age of nine, Jodie Foster attended the Lycee Francais de Los Angeles, a private school devoted to bilingual education. Her fluency enabled her to appear in several French-language movies over the years, including “Stop Calling Me Baby” (1977) and “A Very Long Engagement” (2004). She often dubs tracks in French for her English-language films.
On the Grange Gauge of 1 to 10, “A Private Life” is a convoluted, conspiratorial 6, streaming on Prime Video and Apple TV.
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Susan Granger
Westport resident Susan Granger grew up in Hollywood, studied journalism with Pierre Salinger at Mills College and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with highest honors in Journalism. In addition to writing for newspapers and magazines, she has appeared on radio and television as an anchorwoman and movie critic for many years. Read all her reviews at susangranger.com.
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