We interview writer-director Rebecca Zlotowski on A Private Life, her newest mystery-crime feature film starring Jodie Foster and Virginie Efira.
Lillian (Jodie Foster) is an American psychiatrist working and living in Paris. When she gets a call one day that a long time patient of hers, Paula (Virginie Efira), has mysteriously died, she sets out to find the truth. The further down the rabbit hole she goes, the more her own life inexplicably unravels. It’s a film that gives other murder mysteries a run for their money, but also tackles family drama and divorce between two separate couples. With a star studded cast (Foster! Efira!), A Private Life (Vie Privée) is a comedy mixed with a thriller that promises a really fun time.
Rebecca Zlotowski has worked with the likes of Natalie Portman, Léa Seydoux, Lily-Rose Depp and more. Her female oriented character studies are passionate, often centering around a specific life event women go through. A Private Life is no different, homing in on Lillian, a self-assured woman with a career spanning decades. It’s only when the death of one of her patients doesn’t seem right that her own life spirals out of control, as she revisits her divorce and her own private life outside of work, something she would usually avoid.
We sat down with writer-director Rebecca Zlotowski to talk about her love for Virginie Efira, working on-set in Paris and all things movie marathons. Read our interview below!
Rebecca Zlotowski on her writing process and creating a perfect part for Jodie Foster
I wanted to first ask about your writing process. You’ve written scripts alone but also collaborated with others in the past. I spoke with Audrey Diwan last year, for Emmanuelle, which you wrote together. Do you find it easier to write alone or with someone?
Rebecca Zlotowski: It was the first time that I adapted something that wasn’t my original idea, so this time was different. I was very trusting with Anne [Berest], one of the co-writers. I’ve known her for a long time; we’re like sisters. She’s writing all the time. She sent me the idea of one of the characters, which was the main character, the psychiatrist, and the idea of the crime and past lives and hypnosis. But that was it. I knew it was going to be a traumatic character and it originally wasn’t written for an American. We added a lot of comedy for Jodie [Foster].
The starting point was just the character that I fell in love with, and then we worked on the script from there. I didn’t want to choose for it to just be a thriller or a comedy. Could it have been a marriage comedy or a ghost movie? It just became an investigation for the writers too, and we wrote it very freely. Writing is my first love and it was very special to write this.
Despite it being a murder mystery, A Private Life is a family drama, where two families are broken from different events. Did you always plan to focus so much on this? It’s similar to your other film Other People’s Children, which plays with family themes.
R.Z.: I never saw that connection, but it’s true. It’s the first time my hero is a mother. And then, she ends up having a grandchild, which is sort of the starting point of the crisis. There’s a confrontation between two couples. The first is played by Jodie Foster and Daniel Auteuil, whose characters couldn’t handle the divorce. It raised the question of “Why did you leave me?”. [Still, this question] is not the only catalist of the film for me; when [Foster] is with her son, who has a baby, there’s a confrontation between them there, too. And then, the other couple is super mysterious: Virginie Efiria and her extremely sexy relationship with a man who leads a double life. It’s very French [laughs]. She lied to her therapist and it’s a lesson to learn. They can learn from each other.
Crafting that perfect on-screen space in A Perfect Life
I found the film claustrophobic in a sense that there are endless winding stairs, and so many locked doors with no escape. Were you aiming for the film to have this effect?
Rebecca Zlotowski: It’s a mental feeling. There’s obviously something that delves into our subconscious, so it has to be like that. I feel like the film is a kind of journey. It’s obvious that [Foster] isn’t only investigating a murder but also herself, and we needed to create that feeling. I love what my production designer, Katia Wyszkop, did with creating the curtains of the psychastist’s room, or even the fluffy carpet, to make it feel comfy. It’s a contrast between the claustrophobia of the film but also the coziness of Lillian’s room.
Lillian’s room perfectly embodies her character. How did you go about finding these specific locations, and how did you know when it was right for each character? There’s a sliding door that her office has that I love.
R.Z.: I was obsessed with the sliding doors and I wanted that to be in the film! There’s a device that François Truffaut used in his film The Soft Skin, for the interiors, where the living room and the bedroom are separated by one huge fake frame. It rolls away when they want to film in each room. This is the best way to do scenes like this. I wondered, how can we do that in A Private Life?
Lilian’s office is right next to her bedroom, and I wanted that contrast of her own private life and public life. We sketched and built this fake library, and put up the shelves. When you watch the film, pause it and look at all of the funny books on the shelf: There are so many on female sexuality. We had so much fun doing this. The most important thing was this separation that she could open and close, and we achieved that.
The other locations were scouted, because I know Paris well; it’s my hometown. I wanted to see Paris from Lillian’s eyes. She’s American, and she’s an expat: The Parisian dream is to have a trenchcoat and be in a bourgeois apartment with a view of the Eiffel Tower. It’s my gift to the Anglo-Saxon audience. I liked filming the movie like that.
Rebecca Zlotowski on Working with Virginie Efira, inspirations and movie marathons
The cast is really special. What made you choose to work with Virginie Efira again?
Rebecca Zlotowski: I’m not done with Virginie Efira: [her role in the film] is a small part, but a strong one. I’m desperately trying to find a place for her in my films when I’m writing. She has the wisdom to say yes, as great actors know that those small parts give them – and us filmmakers too – everything. She can be there for two or three scenes, but you could never forget Virginie. I really love involving these amazing actors in my films.
One thing I love doing is having mini movie marathons. What films would you pair with A Private Life for that perfect movie marathon?
R.Z.: I would have Spellbound, Nightmare Alley, Charade and then Sibyl.
Oh, I love Sibyl.
R.Z.: I was talking for ages with Justine [Triet] about Sibyl. My film is an homage to Sibyl in a way. No one ever mentions it, but it’s so close, and I drew inspiration from it. I really am such an admirer of that film. Oh, I love this marathon!
Did you draw inspiration from any other films?
R.Z.: Sibyl was the one conscious choice. But then, I also love Mystery Murders in Manhattan, Another Woman and Alice.
Why did you decide to set A Private Life in the present day? It’s a film that could have been set 20 years ago, but there are clear nods to right now, like the Amazon Prime Packages.
R.Z: It’s part of the plot that Lillian is sort of living behind the times. Something has been broken in her transmission to make her live in the past. She goes to her son’s house to order anything she needs. My therapist was actually like that!
How does it feel to have brought this film to the BFI London Film Festival?
R.Z.: The end of crafting a film is bringing it to the audience, and the London Film Festival screening was so special to me. I can tell the European audiences love the movie, and it’s been received well so far, because of this audience. The festival was the perfect place to have shown the film.
This interview was edited for length and clarity.
A Private Life (Vie Privée) will be released in UK and Irish cinemas on 26 June, 2026.
Header credits: Director Rebecca Zlotowski on the set of ‘A Private Life’ (Jérôme Prébois, Sony Pictures Classics), Jodie Foster in a still from the movie (Sony Pictures Classics)