Director Rebecca Zlotowski and star Jodie Foster unveiled their collaboration Vie Privée (A Private Life) out of competition here in Cannes on Tuesday evening, greeted by a 10-minute ovation.
Foster plays renowned psychiatrist Lilian Steiner in the French-language mystery. When Lilian learns of the death of one of her patients, she is deeply troubled. Convinced that it was murder, she decides to investigate.
Also starring are Daniel Auteuil, Virginie Efira, Mathieu Amalric, Vincent Lacoste and Luana Bajrami.
Sony Pictures Classics acquired North America and Latin America rights in February on the film that Zlotowski also co-wrote. Goodfellas completed a raft of international deals earlier this year. Ad Vitam has French distribution with a release planned later in 2025.
This is Zlotowski’s sixth film, and her second in the Cannes Official Selection as director after 2013’s Un Certain Regard title Grand Central.
Foster told the festival of meeting with Zlotowski, “We reviewed the whole film, word for word, for six or seven hours straight. I knew then that Rebecca was someone who took her work very seriously; that she had specific ideas for every aspect of the film.”
Foster has had several films in Cannes as director or actress. They include Money Monster (2016), The Beaver (2011), Bugsy Malone (1976), Taxi Driver (1976) and Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1975).
Fluent in French, Foster has appeared in a handful of Gallic productions across her career, but this marks her first French-language role in two decades after Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s wartime romance A Very Long Engagement in 2005.
Vie Privée is produced by Frédéric Jouve at Les Films Velvet and co-produced by France 3 Cinéma.
