Jodie Foster praised for French performance in A Private Life

Movieweb's Julian Roman says Jodie Foster delivers a flawless French performance as Lilian Steiner, a prominent Paris psychiatrist who becomes convinced a long-term patient has been murdered in A Private Life.

The film follows Lilian as she grows suspicious after Paula (Virginie Efira) misses appointments and is later reported to have died; confrontations with an irate patient and Paula's widower propel Lilian into an obsessive investigation that exposes personal failures and unexpected consequences. Director and co-writer Rebecca Zlotowski gives Foster a complex role, and Roman calls the film sophisticated adult cinema with many layers, praising Foster's work, the chemistry with Daniel Auteuil, and the production's cinematography and design.

Roman notes Zlotowski introduces anti‑Semitic flashbacks and Nazi-era sequences that are visually striking but sometimes overreach and muddy the narrative, and that perception versus reality does not always land. A Private Life has French dialogue with English subtitles and will be released theatrically in the U.S. on January 16th from Sony Pictures Classics.

Key Topics

Culture, Jodie Foster, Rebecca Zlotowski, Daniel Auteuil, Virginie Efira, A Private Life