“A Private Life” is three parts neo-noir, two parts comedy of remarriage, and one part past lives thriller. That’s like smashing together “The Long Goodbye,” “The Philadelphia Story” and “Dead Again,” then shooting the result in French. Jodie Foster is the star, and in this analogy, she’s simultaneously playing Philip Marlowe, Tracy Lord, and either the Kenneth Branagh or Emma Thompson character — you get to choose — from Branagh’s 1991 mystery.
Couple that scenario with good performances by a cast of famous French actors, and Foster’s fluency en français, and you’d think director Rebecca Zlotowski had an intriguing little sleeper on her hands. And for most of the runtime, you’d be right. Zlotowski navigates the twists and turns in her story (co-written with Anne Berest) with confidence, making even the most preposterous idea feel plausible.
There’s palpable excitement in being unsure where this movie is going. But let me tell you, you’re going to be mad when it gets there. The conclusion of “A Private Life” is so anticlimactic and unsatisfying that you’ll wonder why the filmmakers decided to toy with us in the first place. It’s not even a matter of the movie depriving the viewer what they want, because all the mysterious plot-related questions are answered.
It’s just — well, let me give you another analogy. Say you’re on a roller coaster with an incredibly steep uphill climb. Your heart races with every forward motion as you inch closer and closer to what is sure to be a majestic, thrilling fall. Then, just as the coaster reaches the top, it bypasses the drop altogether by switching to a straight track that sends you directly to the exit. The losing trombone sound from “The Price Is Right” plays on repeat as you disembark.
Don’t say I didn’t warn you. However, Foster and the rest of the cast are so good, I almost want to recommend that you go just for their performances. After all, it’s the journey, not the destination, that counts. That is, unless you’re making a murder mystery.
Foster plays Dr. Lilian Steiner, an American expatriate living in France. She’s a shrink who sees both English- and French-speaking patients. In the opening scene, she’s worried about Paula (Virginie Efira), a longtime patient who has missed her last three sessions. Her train of thought is interrupted by Pierre (Noam Morgensztern), another patient who has come by unannounced to terminate his sessions.
Pierre’s rationale is that, after several years, Lilian hasn’t cured him of his smoking addiction. But a hypnotist named Jessica Grangé (Sophie Guillemin) successfully deprogrammed him after one session. Pierre plans to sue his former doctor for the 32,000 euros he’s paid her since they started therapy.
Forget about the lawsuit and focus on the hypnotist. Turns out Paula has died, and though Lilian denies feeling any guilt or sadness, her eyes won’t stop tearing up and running all day long. Her eye doctor ex-husband, Gaby (Daniel Auteuil), tells her there’s nothing wrong with her eyes. But the incessant tearing up sends a skeptical Lilian to the hypnotist. Jessica cures the problem, but the session also draws Lilian into some kind of queer-coded past life scenario where she was an orchestra cellist in love with Paula back in 1942 France.
The hypnotic vision also implicates Paula’s angry husband, Simon (Mathieu Amalric), in her death. Paula’s unstable daughter, Valerie (Luàna Bajrami), told Lilian that her mother committed suicide using her prescribed medications, but once the clues start pointing to murder, Lilian becomes suspicious of both Valerie and Simon. Like any good detective movie plot, both of these suspects will look guilty as sin at one point or another.
That any of this is remotely believable is a testament to everyone involved. And “A Private Life” wisely leaves room for doubt. Legendary documentarian Frederick Wiseman cameos as Lilian’s disbelieving former psychiatrist. Her son Julien (Vincent Lacoste) thinks she’s bonkers, especially after hearing about his role in Lilian’s past life vision.
Only Gaby is willing to give Lilian the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps it’s because he and his ex-wife have romantically reconnected, against their better judgment. Gaby becomes Lilian’s accomplice in trying to uncover the truth. We discover that the film’s title may be alluding to Simon’s secret activities, actions that give him a motive for murder.
I wouldn’t dare tell you how all this plays out, so instead, I’ll try to glean what “A Private Life” is trying to tell us. A critical eye is cast upon psychoanalysis, particularly the way Lilian practices it. (She’s almost as uncaring as Conan O’Brien’s therapist in “If I Had Legs, I’d Kick You.”) There’s also the question of whether Lilian pays full attention to the details, or only hears what she wants to hear.
These ideas are interesting on their own, and don’t need any of the fanciful storytelling at play here to interrogate them. If that’s the case, then perhaps the dissatisfying ending is the point. I just wish I hadn’t been teased with a far more outrageous outcome for most of the movie.
★★½
A PRIVATE LIFE
Directed by Rebecca Zlotowski. Written by Zlotowski, Anne Berest. Starring Jodie Foster, Mathieu Amalric, Daniel Auteil, Luàna Bajrami, Vincent Lacoste, Sophie Guillemin, Noam Morgensztern, Frederick Wiseman. At AMC Boston Common, suburbs. In French, with English subtitles. 103 minutes. R (sex, nudity, profanity)
Odie Henderson is the Boston Globe's film critic.