TIFF 2025 Review: A Private Life – “The uncertainty of it all overrides what could have been a fun little murder mystery.”

Courtesy of TIFF

“Psycho killer, qu’est-ce que c’est?” asks the Talking Heads in the opening music of A Private Life.  What is this, indeed? Jodie Foster as an amateur detective solving crime around Paris? Sign me up! Yet by the film’s end, I was left asking that question not with enthusiasm, but while scratching my head, wondering what I had seen.

It’s not that A Private Life is without its merits.  The first is Foster herself, who is delightful to watch as Lilian Steiner, an American living in Paris.  She works as a therapist, seeing patients in her very lovely Paris apartment. The problem is she’s not a very good therapist, and the entire plot of the film hinges on this point.  If she really was a good listener nothing afterwards likely would transpire.  Yet, for the sake of the movie, we are going to trust this unreliable narrator to solve our crime.

The crime is the death of one of her patients, Paula (an under-utilized Virginie Efira).  Lilian is taken by surprise at her passing, and even more so when Paula’s husband, Simon (Matieu Amalric), blames her for the loss.  When Paula’s daughter comes to her with an apparent clue that leads Lilian to believe the deceased has been murdered, she takes it upon herself to try and find the culprit.  But first, she has to visit her ex-husband Gabriel (Daniel Auteuil), an eye doctor, because for some reason her eyes won’t stop leaking since she came from her patient’s wake.

Yes, Lilian is crying, but again she’s a bad therapist so she couldn’t possibly believe this to be true.  However, this plot point leads us to another highlight of the movie, which is Gabriel, and his relationship with Lilian.  Auteuil and Foster look like they have a lot of fun together as reunited lovers on the hunt for a killer.  If this were all the film was, I’d already be in line for the sequel.  They have excellent chemistry and make an enjoyable, if not somewhat functional, detective duo.

Director Rebecca Zlotowski‘s last film, 2022’s Other People’s Children was much more effective and featured a wonderful performance from Virginie Efira.  But, she doesn’t really keep the tone of this film steady.  At one moment, A Private Life plays like a thriller, dark and leaning into the mystery.  Then some quirky music will come along and announce the film to be more of a comedy, and then it seems more like a romance.  It would be fine to blend these genres together if there seemed to be some feel of intention, but it all feels a bit messy and uneven.

The uncertainty of it all overrides what could have been a fun little murder mystery.  In fact, I wish it would lean into the camp it’s so close to being.  Seeing Foster stretch her comedic chops a little, all while speaking natural fluent French, isn’t something you see every day.  She’s easily the best part of A Private Life.  But, when it comes to the original question of ‘What is it?’  That’s still something I can’t really answer.

A Private Life has its Canadian premiere September 9, 2025 at the Toronto International Film Festival.  For more information go to tiff.net