A Private Life (M) – 103 minutes

Living in Paris, American/French psychiatrist Lilian Steiner’s (Jodie) life is spiralling.

A patient she has seen for eight years, Pierre Hallan (Noam Morgensztern), who originally came to see her to quit smoking, abruptly cancels all future appointments.

Pierre claims one visit to a hypnotist cured what Steiner couldn’t and he maintains that he is 40,000 Euros out of pocket because of her. 

That is his calculation of the cost of his visits to Steiner, plus that of cigarettes smoked during the period he has been seeing her.

Of far greater import though is the untimely death of a 47-year-old patient, Paula Cohen-Solal (Virginie Efira), whom Steiner had treated for nine years.

Steiner is left blindsided and devastated. She can’t stop crying.

But the situation is about to get a whole lot worse when it appears that medication that Steiner prescribed could have killed Paula.

Paula’s daughter, Valérie (Luàna Bajrami), wants answers, while Paula’s husband Simon (Mathieu Amalric) is enraged when Steiner attends their family home.

As Steiner’s tears continue, she visits her ex-husband, eye specialist

Gabriel Haddad (Daniel Auteuil), looking for a cure for her incessant weeping.

When that doesn’t work, cynical though she may be, Steiner turns to the hypnotist who allegedly cured Pierre of his smoking addiction.

What emerges from that consultation is extraordinary – a strong link between Steiner and her dead patient Paula in a past life.

Further, Steiner reaches the conclusion that Paula didn’t commit suicide from a medication overdose, but was murdered.

The culprit appears to be either Paula’s daughter or Paula’s husband.

With her own ex-husband on board, Steiner – who also has an awkward relationship with their son Julien (Vincent Lacoste) – digs deeper.

What a tangled web we weave. And I have only given you the expurgated version.

There are several other threads to this comedic psychological thriller.

Written by Anne Berest and Rebecca Zlotowski, in collaboration with Gaëlle Macé, there is complexity to A Private Life, which requires concentration to follow.

For an experienced psychiatrist, Steiner seems to have many unresolved issues. Foster plays her as intense and unrelenting.

Ex-husband Gabriel is genuinely delighted that Steiner has stepped back into his life. Daniel Auteuil is far more laid back in his portrayal of Gaby.

For her part, Valérie comes across as needy. There is a desperation about Luàna Bajrami’s realisation of her.

Mathieu Amalric’s actions as Simon appear to show that he is hiding his true self.

While intriguing to a point, I felt the movie went too far – introduced too many elements – and so all but tied itself up in knots.

I’d go as far as to say confusion reigns. That is partly due to the engorged script and Rebecca Zlotowski’s direction. 

I found myself thinking “come now, enough already” as my belief in what was unfolding wavered.

For a while I was intrigued; then I was just frustrated.

Nor did I find the injected humour all that funny.

It was good to see Jodie Foster back on screen, this time in a French role, but I wasn’t totally sold on her latest cinematic dalliance.

A Private Life is playing as part of the French Film Festival, before having a general release in cinemas in May.

Rated M, it scores a 6 out of 10.