A Private Life

When Paula, a long-term patient, dies and her death is labeled a suicide, veteran psychiatrist Lilian Steiner refuses to accept the conclusion. Lilian begins to reexamine Paula's files, revisit their last sessions and question the neat explanations other professionals accept. As she pulls at small discrepancies and talks to people from Paula's life, Lilian uncovers layers of secrecy and strained loyalties that complicate what seemed like a closed case. The film follows her careful, often uncomfortable inquiries and the emotional toll they take, without revealing whether she is chasing truth or projecting grief onto a fragile set of facts.

Released in 2025, the film was directed by Rebecca Zlotowski and conceived by Anne Berest and Gaëlle Macé. It features Jodie Foster as Lilian Steiner, with Daniel Auteuil, Virginie Efira, Mathieu Amalric and Vincent Lacoste in key roles, bringing together French and international talents.

Critical and audience reaction has been mixed, reflected in an average vote of 5.9 out of 10 from 59 votes. Reviewers often highlighted the performances, especially Foster's restrained intensity, while some viewers noted a deliberate pace and elliptical plotting. Central themes include the ethics of psychiatric care, the slipperiness of memory, and how grief can reshape facts into narratives.

The film prompted discussion about how therapists are portrayed on screen and about the responsibilities clinicians have toward patients after death. Jodie Foster's involvement attracted attention, since she plays a clinician who is at once methodical and emotionally vulnerable, and several scenes linger in quiet, unsettling ways that have stayed with some viewers.

Box office totals have not been widely reported, and conversation around the movie has been concentrated among festival audiences and arthouse reviewers rather than mainstream blockbuster discourse.