Poster © Ad Vitam. Shown at reduced size for review and commentary.
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GenreCrime, Drama & Mystery
RatedR
Runtime1 hr 47 mins
ReleasedJanuary 16, 2026
StreamingSee Where to Watch
DirectorRebecca Zlotowski
StarringJodie Foster, Daniel Auteuil, Virginie Efira
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A Private Life (2025)
| ▶Stream It | ★The Numbers |
| 🎫Get Tickets | ✎Edit History |
| iIMDb Profile | %Rotten Tomatoes |
| WWikipedia | LLetterboxd |
| TTMDB | +Add to Top 8 |
| A Private Life's Details | |
| Genre | Crime, Drama & Mystery |
| Rated | R |
| Released | 05/20/2025 (Cannes); 11/26/2025 (France); 01/16/2026 (United States) |
| Streaming | See Where to Watch on this page. |
| Running Time | 1 hr 47 mins |
| Budget | $5M (reported) |
| Box Office | Updated daily from Box Office Mojo. See the numbers below. |
| Country | France |
| Language | French |
| A Private Life's Interests | |
| General | MiniDiscs, Paris apartments, therapy couches, hypnotists, prescriptions, questions nobody will answer. |
| Music | Rob (Robin Coudert) |
| Movies | Rear Window (1954). One more amateur sleuth who just will not drop it. |
| Television | In Treatment. Same couch energy, more hypnotists. |
| Heroes | Lilian Steiner. Doctor, detective, terrible at letting things go. |
| A Private Life's Crew | |
| Director | Rebecca Zlotowski |
| Writers | Rebecca Zlotowski, Anne Berest, Gaëlle Macé |
| Producers | Frederic Jouve |
| Cinematography | George Lechaptois |
| Music | Rob |
| Edited By | Géraldine Mangenot |
| Production | Les Films Velvet, France 3 Cinéma |
| Distributed By | Ad Vitam |
A Private Life is a murder mystery where the detective’s main symptom is crying for no reason, and her best lead comes from a hypnotist. That’s the fun and the problem. Rebecca Zlotowski plays it glossy and a little campy, so the suspense is real, but the mystery underneath is slight, and the answer lands softer than the setup promises. Jodie Foster holds it all together. Her Lilian is an American psychiatrist in Paris who records every session on MiniDisc, gets ordered out of a patient’s shiva, and decides the death was no accident. Watching Foster flip between cool, clipped professional and nosy amateur sleuth, all in French, is a treat. Daniel Auteuil plays Gabriel, the eye doctor ex-husband who swears her eyes are fine and still ends up helping her snoop. It made $10.4 million worldwide on a reported $5M. A 6.6 because Foster is captivating even when the case is thin. $9,791 says you tear up at a commercial this week and book an eye exam instead of admitting it.
What works: Jodie Foster is magnetic, and the glossy, slightly campy Hitchcock mood makes the snooping a pleasure.
What doesn’t: The mystery itself is slight, and the solution feels smaller than all the suspense building up to it.
Who it’s for: Jodie Foster fans and anyone who likes a stylish, grown-up whodunit with a sense of humor about itself.
Spoilers
Simon didn’t kill anyone, and the anonymous calls and the break-in turn out to be another patient, Pierre. The missing disk reveals Paula altered her own prescription to harm her aunt Pearl and that the message in her hand was a confession, and Lilian ends the film no longer recording sessions, choosing to simply listen.
Dr. Lilian Steiner (Jodie Foster) is an American psychiatrist who sees patients in her Paris home and records every session on MiniDisc. Then a longtime patient, Paula (Virginie Efira), dies, and Paula's husband Simon (Mathieu Amalric) orders Lilian out of the shiva. Meanwhile Lilian keeps crying for no reason she can name, and her ex-husband Gabriel (Daniel Auteuil), an eye doctor, says her eyes are fine. Nothing about Paula's death sits right with her, so she starts digging like a detective who happens to own a couch. Rebecca Zlotowski directs, in French. One hundred three minutes, one very nosy shrink.
Anyone with a MiniDisc player and a theory. Lilian will see you now.
| Jodie Foster | Lilian Steiner |
| Daniel Auteuil | Gabriel Haddad |
| Virginie Efira | Paula Cohen-Solal |
| Mathieu Amalric | Simon Cohen-Solal |
| Vincent Lacoste | Julien Haddad-Park |
| Park Ji-min | Vanessa Haddad-Park |
| Luàna Bajrami | Valérie Cohen-Solal |
| Frederick Wiseman | Dr. Goldstein |
| Sophie Guillemin | Jessica Grangé |
| Noam Morgensztern | Peirre Hallan |
| Aurora Clément | Perle Friedman |
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 18 October 2026 DataBot +400 Numbers refreshed: Worldwide box office $10.4M; Domestic box office $1.4M; Opening weekend $67K; Profit / loss (est.) -$2.3M; Rotten Tomatoes 82%; box office chart updated; Rotten Tomatoes critics 82% (146 reviews); Metacritic 67 / 100; IMDb users 5.9 / 10 (8,144 votes); movie.guru score 5.1.
- (cur | prev) 12:00, 18 October 2026 DataBot +2,000 Profile created from Wikipedia and Box Office Mojo: cast, crew, release dates, budget, official trailer.