A Private Life (Vie Privee) – Film Review
Reviewed by Harris Dang on 8 June 2025
Transmission Films presents a film by Rebecca Zlotowski
Screenplay by Rebecca Zlotowski, Anne Berest, and Gaëlle Macé
Produced by Frederic Jouve
Starring Jodie Foster, Daniel Auteuil, and Virginie Efira
Cinematography George Lechaptois
Edited by Géraldine Mangenot
Music by Robin Rob Coudert
Rating: TBA
Running Time: 105 minutes
Release Date: TBA
Set in modern-day Paris, A Private Life (also known as Vie Privee in the Sydney Film Festival 2025 program) is about Lilian Steiner (Jodie Foster), a psychoanalyst specialising in Freudian therapy. She is currently in a slump as she is estranged from her son, Julien (an understandably aloof Vincent Lacoste), who has his own family. Lilian is also divorced from her ex-husband, Gabriel (Daniel Auteuil), who is an optometrist. Her presence in her work is barely felt, leading one of her clients to sue her for ineffectiveness.
Things change for Lilian when one of her clients, Paula (Virginie Efira, whose dreamy presence appears through flashbacks), tragically commits suicide. Shocked by the news, Lilian turns into an amateur sleuth and investigates her therapy session recordings (stored nostalgically in minidiscs) for clues as she believes Paula’s passing is not what it seems. Through Paula’s family, we see an aggressive widower in Simon (an effectively outlandish Mathiew Almaric) who may or may not be a philanderer and a strangely off-putting daughter, Valerie (an adroit Luana Bajrami).
The story for Rebecca Zlotowski’s latest film sounds like a simple murder mystery with all the trimmings about obsession, double-crossings, red herrings, and a huge verbal confrontation. With Zlotowski at the helm, it cannot be that formulaic, or even cohesive. A Private Life may not be as emotionally dense as Other People’s Children (2022) or as cinematically alluring as An Easy Girl (2019). But it showcases Zlotowski’s directorial powers as she navigates tones and meshes genres like a mad scientist with a light touch.
Instead of owing genre debts to sleuths like Jessica Fletcher in Murder She Wrote or the titular Nancy Drew stories, Zlotowski pays homage to Woody Allen. Her film is an ode to the motif of a murder mystery investigation plot headed by lovers in Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993) and the crime investigation story beat involving hypnosis in The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001). A Private Life though is more frivolous, chaotic, and unpredictable than what it might have been.
We are taken into several Freudian dream sequences where Lilian, Paula, and others appear in a concert that may or may not provide clues to the main mystery. What makes it interesting and chaotically entertaining is that the sequences are wrapped up in Holocaust imagery, themes that foreshadow character arcs in a droll fashion that makes the film partly a character study. There is also an amusing cameo from filmmaker Frederick Wiseman (making his second on-screen appearance in a Zlotowski film after Other People’s Children). Consequently, the humour is esoteric and dry yet frequently witty.
The film also swoops by at a reasonable clip (thanks to Geraldine Mangenot’s concise editing), has a zippy and spirited score by Robin Rob Coudert, and looks appealingly glossy through George Lechaptois’ expert lensing. The film’s only real fault is the mystery’s conclusion. While it was appropriate as a narrative choice, it feels like an afterthought compared to the compelling character arcs.
Jodie Foster’s presence anchors the film and guarantees its success. Previously, she only had one speaking role in French, which was in A Very Long Engagement (2004). Here Foster takes her leading French-language debut and knocks it out of the park.
Engaging, animated, and wonderfully flippant, Foster delivers a fantastic performance that taps into her acting potential that we rarely see in her Hollywood efforts. She is aided by the warm and charming Daniel Auteuil. They share affectionate chemistry when reminiscing on old times, throwing sharp barbs at each other, and eagerly anticipating the mystery hijinks.
Overall, A Private Life is immensely entertaining fun. It blends murder mystery, romantic comedy, and character study tropes into an appealingly frisky light-hearted ride. The entire film is also anchored by the wonderful Jodie Foster who is at her charismatic best.
Summary: A Private Life is immensely entertaining fun. It blends murder mystery, romantic comedy, and character study tropes into an appealingly frisky light-hearted ride. Jodie Foster is at her charismatic best.
4
Solid
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