City Cinema: A Private Life (Vie privée)

Mystery/Thriller. PG, violence, coarse language, mature theme.
Dir: Rebecca Zlotowski, France, 2026, 103 min.
Jodie Foster, Daniel Auteuil, Virginie Efira.
In French with English subtitles.

“Considering the subject matter, A Private Life shouldn’t be as funny as it is. But in Jodie Foster’s hands, it’s a darkly comedic triumph… This witty thriller sees Foster as an American psychiatrist in Paris turned amateur sleuth as she investigates the sudden death of a patient… With the film’s core mystery wrapped in golden-leafed Parisian streets, mid-century modernist furniture, and an almost exclusively auburn and navy costume palette, A Private Life is an autumnal delight… Lillian is a psychiatrist firm in her ethical principles, which are tested when her patient Paula dies suddenly by suicide… she can’t quite shake the feeling that she didn’t see Paula’s death coming, refusing to doubt her own psychiatry skills or deep connection to her patient, and launching into her own private investigation, she suspects foul play… She finds a fellow amateur sleuth in her charismatic ex-husband Gabriel, whose relationship with Lillian forms the film’s unexpected true heart… They almost gleefully attempt to uncover Paula’s secrets as exhilarated citizen detectives… As Lillian channels her misplaced guilt into sleuthing… Zlotowski’s film becomes more than a simple whodunnit, but a surprising, comedic, and brilliantly performed exploration of relationships and the extent to which we let people in. It’s a perpetual irony, Lillian acknowledges, ‘knowing people’s secrets and not being able to act.’ But ultimately, act she does.” —Shannon Connellan, Mashable