It is difficult to imagine that an Oscar-winning Hollywood superstar takes on a leading role in a German (and also German-speaking) movie. But that's just another point in which the French cinema is ahead of us: ten years ago, Rebecca Zlotowski was already able to win Natalie Portman and Lily-Rose Depp for English-language parts for her third feature film “The Secret of the two sisters”. But of course it is a completely different house number that in “A private life“Now none other than the two -time Oscar winner Jodie Foster (for“ accused ”and“ The silence of the lambs ”) takes over the French -speaking (!) Main role.
But a little extra star power can also use the crime drama, which is extremely well -known even in smaller supporting roles. Because “A Private Life” is not exactly spectacular away from the central occupation coup. The dramaturgy of the Whodunit, in which the question of the perpetrator first arises whether there was a murder at all, corresponds less to one exaggeration than one rapids. As a thriller, it's all not clever or exciting enough, for a psychodrama the analyzes are rather banal. And yet you like to look at “A Private Life” surprisingly, which, in addition to a constant-mild tension and a sympathetic and fine humor, is mainly due to Foster's undeniable charisma.
After the sudden death of a patient, psychoanalyst Lilian Steiner (Jodie Foster) herself investigations …
The psychoanalyst Lilian Steiner (Jodie Foster) attaches great importance to absolute professionalism. So she lets the sessions with her couch guests, which she records out of old habit on minidiscs, which is now difficult to use, little or nothing personally. But that changes when the daughter of her long-time patient Paula Cohen-Solal (Virginie Efira) reports that her mother suddenly died. When she stops by the dead guard, Lilian is not only stared at Simon (Mathieu Amalric), the husband of the deceased, but even thrown out of the apartment.
As she later learns, Paula died of an overdose of the sedative that Lilian prescribed to her patient because of her sleep disorders. In contrast to the United States, psychoanalysts in France are actually not justified, as the documentary Grand Master Frederick Wiseman explains to us as Lilian's own psychoanalyst. So is Lilian possibly (with) blame for death? Should she have realized that Paula may be at risk of suicide? Or did it even make a mistake when exhibiting the recipe? And don't husband Simon and daughter Valérie (Luàna Bajrami) behave somehow strange? So might not be a murder behind it?
The food before the break -in
When Lilian and her ex-husband Gabriel (Daniel Au taxil) enter Simon's remote country house in a rainy, stormy night to look for a stolen Minidisc or other evidence of his participation in a possible plot, you would actually expect a tension at this point. But it stays away. Instead, it looks as if neither Rebecca Zlotowski nor her co-authors Anne Berest and Gaëlle Macé have a special interest in the central mystery. And honestly: In the career of the emphasized feminist director, who has recently been responsible for the masterful patchwork drama “Other People's Children”, which has never been published in Germany, there have been rather few to no interest in the crime genre.
But before her spontaneous burglary, Lilian is looking for her ex in the small restaurant, of which she knows exactly that he is going to eat every Monday evening – and here Zlotowski is again in her element: Gabriel allows himself with the waiter a gag that he apparently made 20 years ago – and anyway, the whole conversation seems so familiar to leave the murder immediately and instead Spend the whole evening with the two ex-herself (and their really, very tasty looking pasta).
Lilian remembers her dead patient Paula Cohen-Solal (Virginie Efira)-under hypnosis she even has a vision in which the two are a couple.
Anyway, “A Private Life” repeatedly scores with fine humor: When Pierre (Noam morning) suddenly stands out of line in front of her door, Lilian assumes a mental emergency. But puff cake! Her patient has only come to tell her that he was with the hypnotist Jessica Grangé (Sophie Guillemin) – and she would have freed him from his nicotine addiction in 20 minutes and for 50 euros. Now he would like to have his 32,000 euros again, which he has put on the table for his therapy in the past eight years. Lilian will also see the hypnotist later when she simply can't stop crying. So she remembers an earlier life during the Nazi crew of Paris, in which she had a lesbian affair with her now dead patient.
For the first time in her long career, a case seems to actually be close to her. Because in the course of the film we understand that the psychoanalyst is far from being consolidated as it always seems in her therapy lessons-especially the relationship with her son Julien (Vincent Lacoste) and his baby son is almost pathologically distant. But why does dealing with this criminal case ensure that all of their personal difficulties and problematic behaviors dissolve into air? The paths of psychoanalysis are obviously unfathomable, but you definitely treat her.
Conclusion: A film made for a Sunday morning cinematinee with croissant and café au lait. Not too exciting, not too clever, not too deep, but while the plot ripple evenly, you still have a pleasant time with the French -speaking Jodie Foster as a psychoanalyst in search of a murderer and yourself.
We saw “A Private Life” at the Cannes Film Festival 2025, where he celebrated its world premiere out of competition.