A Not-So Private Life
Dark and dangerous. You better believe it. We are talking about A Private Life, showing at Luna SX. The blurb for the movie describes the genre as ‘thriller, mystery, drama, crime’. I’m tempted to add ‘romance’ but that might be a bridge too far.
Yet there is a strange and tender dynamism between Lilian Steiner (Jodie Foster) and her ex-hubby, Gabriel (a dishevelled and comfortably-ageing Daniel Auteuil). One exhibits an excruciating need for certainty, for control. The other, still lovestruck, more inclined to go with the flow.
Guess who is who? Foster is superb as Lilian, a psychiatrist of Freudian persuasion. She clings desperately to the signposts of her training and experience, even as the Parisien rugs slide beneath her feet.
The sudden, unexplained death of a client lies at the core of Lilian’s distress. Has she missed something? Surely, it can’t be anything to do with her? Or can it? Those in charge of these things determine the death as suicide, something Lilian refuses to accept. Her mission is to find the truth.
Directed by Rebecca Zlotowski, we are treated to a tight, boxed-in canvas, rarely venturing from Lilian’s apartment-cum-office or a local café. An exception occurs when she does something completely out of character. A client of long-standing comes to see her. He throws it in her face that he’s spent thousands of euros over many years unsuccessfully trying to find a way to stop smoking. Then, in a single session, a practitioner of hypnotic persuasion, has delivered him the goods. Against her normal grain, Lilian – for whom the very word ‘alternative’ is anathema, heads off to the suburbs for a consultation. The (younger) hypnotist is a breath of sanity, not that it’s something Lilian will recognise.
A second-out-of town foray occurs when she and Gabriel play detective, heading off on a wild drive to spy on Lilian’s late client’s husband. As the camera lingers on her face, and the music cranks up, we in the audience grip our seats in anticipation of a looming catastrophe.
No spoilers as to what happens. Suffice it to say this is a film that may be loved or loathed. Lilian is so adamant, so convinced of her ability to understand others, and yet so vulnerable in her ineptitude to address her past and its effect on her beliefs and behaviours.
I loved the film, as did my two female companions, both of whom are well-versed in the world of psychology – and the nature of assumptions. For Lilian’s signposts are not always good guides, and we are reminded that experts, in whatever field, are simply humans and, as such, have blind spots that can come back to bite.
*By Bruce Menzies. Based in Fremantle, most of the time, Bruce Menzies is the author of three novels, a family history, and a recent memoir. Details at BruceJamesMenzies.com If you’d like to read more of Bruce Menzies’ work on Fremantle Shipping News or listen to a fascinating podcast interview with Bruce, look here.
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