The Exposure Therapy of "A Private Life"

"This desire for a more legible interior life has led Foster to some unexpected roles. Take her turn in Nyad, an odd film about the athlete Diana Nyad's attempts to swim from Cuba to Florida. Foster plays Diana's friend, coach, and (at one point) partner, Bonnie Stoll, with a charming optimism, shedding her withdrawn, often self-protective posture to reveal an endearing lightness."

"Here she plays Lilian Steiner, an American psychoanalyst living in France, whose wayward investigation into a patient's death leads her down a path of intense vulnerability and reflection. The role is Foster's first lead performance completely in French, and it transforms her almost entirely into a different person. Her voice gains an airy lilt, her eyes seem softer when the camera closes in on her face, and she brings verve and a sense of order to an otherwise scattered film."

Jodie Foster built a reputation for steely, impenetrable women in roles such as Taxi Driver and The Silence of the Lambs, often portraying socially isolated characters. A growing desire to be understood has pushed Foster toward more legible interior roles and unexpected choices. In Nyad she played Bonnie Stoll with a charming optimism and portrayed an openly gay character on screen for the first time. In A Private Life she portrays Lilian Steiner, an American psychoanalyst in France whose investigation into a patient's death prompts intense vulnerability and reflection. The role is Foster's first lead entirely in French, transforming her voice, gaze, and presence within a film that opens with a dismissal and a death.

Read at The Nation