This review doesn’t contain any spoilers and honestly no review of ‘A Private Life’ should at the moment as it’s the kind of film you have to see and experience for yourself. Revealing too much would only take away from the tension , the jokes, the surprise and the many emotions that unfold as you watch it. Directed by Anne Fontaine and starring Jodie Foster as psychoanalyst Lilian Steiner it’s a psychological mystery that grips you from the start, urging you to try to solve the mystery while also catching you off guard with laughter. 

The story begins in the aftermath of tragedy as one of Lilian’s patients has taken her own life and Lilian is unable to let go until she uncovers what really happened. The story explores the themes of guilt, denial and the desire to find answers or blame those around us.

I wasn’t sure whether to see it at first thinking I could watch it later but I am glad I went. The film surprised me as it was different from what I expected for a thriller about secrets it’s very human and even healing to watch. I have to admit there are moments that get your heart racing along with your mind and then suddenly the film makes you laugh. 

I found myself trying to solve the mystery before Lilian did creating my own list of suspects only to be proven wrong along the way. If my track record with ‘The Residence’ is anything to go by I should probably stop dreaming of becoming a detective. 

For me, it feels that beneath all the tension and suspense ‘A Private Life’ becomes something more. Lilian is a woman who spent her life observing others so closely that she stopped truly seeing herself and those around her. I have to say Foster’s performance is magnetic as she is vulnerable one moment and composed the next as if nothing has happened. There’s also heartbreak in watching Lilian search for truth in others while avoiding her own feelings. 

If there’s one thing I wish for the film it would be to explore more of its emotional threads but I understand why this wasn’t the case. Fontaine leaves us in a similar position to Lilian as we are full of questions, full of emotions and aware that we might not have the answers we are looking for. 

‘A Private Life’ is clever, gripping and unexpectedly funny for a mystery thriller. There are more to discuss but that would spoil it and it’s not a movie you want to be spoiled but one that you go and see.