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‘Private Life’ Review: Fluent in French, Jodie Foster Steers an Upscale, Paris-Set Psychological Thriller

Rebecca Zlotowski convinces Jodie Foster to act in French, resulting in a throwback to the character-driven dramas that defined her early career.

In Rebecca Zlotowski ’s sleek but slippery psychological thriller, Liliane is caught off-guard by the news that Paula Cohen-Solal (Virginie Efira), a woman who failed to appear for her last three appointments, has in fact committed suicide. In fact, Anne Berest and Zlotowski’s playful screenplay suggests that much of what Liliane’s patients share with her is a kind of invented reality, in which they appear as the heroes or victims of their own stories for their therapist’s benefit. Here, the director implies that Liliane’s vision is no less valid a reality than the one Paula was spinning for her, though you might want to brush up on your Lacanian dream analysis before trying to unpack a sequence that recalls such films as “Dead Again” and “Spellbound”).

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