In this review, Mutale investigates Rebecca Zlotowski's latest feature.
In her first French-language speaking lead, Jodie Foster stars as American Lilian Steiner, a psychiatrist living and working in Paris. When Lilian learns of the death by suicide of one of her patients, Paula Cohen-Solal (Virginie Efira), Lilian is shocked and saddened. Completely blindsided, she turns over the possibility of missed red flags. Could she have done more for the patient she regarded as a friend?
Before she has a chance to gather her thoughts, one of Lilian's long-standing clients, Pierre (Noam Morgensztern), questions her credibility and, in effect, accuses her of being a 'quack'. Pierre states how, following years of therapy costing tens of thousands of euros, there was no end to his smoking habit. It was only a recent visit to a hypnotist who provided an instant cure. Ever the professional, Lilian keeps her cool at the accusation, followed by threats of an impending lawsuit. There's no change to her stern, stony-faced countenance.
Paula's daughter, Valerie (Luana Bajrami), invites Lilian to the wake at the family home, where Paula's husband, Simon (Mathieu Amalric), instantly reacts to her presence with open hostility and orders her to leave. Lilian stops by her adult son Julien's (Vincent Lacoste) home. It's evident they have a strained relationship, though he does help her to buy the mini-cassettes she uses in the dictaphone for recording sessions with her patients.
More deeply affected than she realises, tears stream down her face on the way home. Over the coming days, these turn into a constant, unstemmable flow. At an ophthalmic practice, Lilian pays a visit to her ex-husband Gabriel (Daniel Auteuil) in search of a diagnosis and cure. No plausible cause can be found, and the trickle of tears continues. Valerie reveals to Lilian that the tablets prescribed by Lilian led to her death, and that there was a message scribbled on the prescription found in her hand.
Lilian harbours doubts over Paula's death. Feeling duty-bound to get to the bottom of this mystery, she assumes the mantle of private investigator. Lilian enlists the help of Gabriel, a series of escapades ensue, and the warm, affectionate interplay of their relationship comes to the fore as an anchoring point. Desperate to stem the stream of tears, Lilian books herself in with Pierre's acclaimed hypnotist, where she is soon transported into a trance, undergoing past life regression. During these sessions, she is transported back to Paris under German occupation. She embodies Paula's male lover whilst they both perform in an orchestra as the tension of the war escalates around them.
A Private Life (Vie Privée) is directed and co-written by Rebecca Zlotowski, whose work has always deftly investigated darker themes such as gender or identity. At various stages through the film, Lilian alludes to her Jewish roots. She is loath to place her faith in the hypnotist's abilities but is nevertheless delivered of her affliction and the tears finally dry up. When the hypnotist declares her healed and refuses payment, Lilian sees this as anti-Semitic rhetoric, something also hinted at through Pierre's aggression.
As the plot unfurls, so do these threads, and many others, dealing with romantic entanglements, professional ethics and intergenerational trauma. Lilian's former psychiatrist, Dr Goldstein (Frederick Wiseman) accuses her of breaking prescribing protocol. Lilian recreates the trance to induce her own self-hypnosis, conjuring more visions from this 'past life'. This window offers up Simon's presence as an adversary, and Lilian's son Julien is seen in the same frame, depicted as a German military enforcer with sinister motives.
Around her, the threats continue to escalate. Menacing phone calls, acts of vandalism targeting Lilian's property give rise to more questions. In stark contrast to her hitherto staid, uneventful and predictable life, Lilian is sucked into a Pandora's box of sorts. This becomes a kind of awakening, where everything familiar is turned on its head. Conspiracy theories, breaking and entering, and cross-country car chases become the work at hand for Lilian and her willing accomplice Gabriel.
The ensemble cast delivers strong and nuanced performances. Foster in her first leading French-language role is highly credible and authentic; her portrayal of the strong, determined character of Lilian Steiner is impressive and faultless. In fact, the only instances Lilian utters words in English are in curses when under pressure or frustrated. Darkly humorous, the film is constantly shifting from one angle to another, broaching sapphic aspects and spirituality. There are certainly hints at the profound leanings of a traditional psychological thriller, but A Private Life (Vie Privée) never delves into the darkness too deeply.
A Private Life (Vie Privée) is in cinemas 26th June 2026.
