mathieu Amalric – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

A PRIVATE LIFE – Review by Susan Granger

April 6, 2026April 11, 2026 Susan Granger A Private Life, Anne Berest, Daniel Auteuil, jodie foster, mathieu Amalric, Rebecca Zlotowski, Sophie Guillemin, Virginie Efira

Not one of Jodie Foster’s best films but unusual because – in her protagonist performance – she speaks impeccable French, making A Private Life more of a curiosity than a ‘must see.’ When Paris-based American psychoanalyst Lilian Steiner (Foster) learns that her patient of nine years committed suicide, she sets out to prove that she was actually murdered, enlisting help from her ex-husband. While it’s not the first time Foster has acted in French, it’s the most significant role in the language that she’s ever played, working with a director – Rebecca Zlotowski – who co-wrote the script with Anne Berest with her in mind.

Movie of the Week

MOTW January 16, 2026: A PRIVATE LIFE

January 11, 2026January 13, 2026 Jennifer Merin A Private Life, betsy bozdech, Cate Marquis, Daniel Auteuil, jennifer merin, jodie foster, leslie combemale, liz whittemore, loren king, mathieu Amalric, motw, Movie of the Week, nell minow, Rebecca Zlotowski, sandie angulo chen, sherin nicole, Simon Cohen-Solal, Virginie Efira

A psychiatrist’s personal and professional insecurities come together to send her spiraling in the wake of her long-time patient’s death in director Rebecca Zlotowski’s engrossing mystery/thriller A Private Life. Starring Jodie Foster in her French-language feature debut, the film follows Dr. Lilian Steiner (Foster) as she gets caught up in trying to prove that the engimatic Paula Cohen-Solal (Virginie Efira) didn’t die by suicide but, in fact, was murdered.

Reviews

HOLD ME TIGHT – Review by Diane Carson

September 21, 2022September 22, 2022 Diane Carson Arieh Worthalter, Christophe Beaucarne, Claudine Galea, Hold Me Tight, mathieu Amalric, motw, Movie of the Week, Vicky Krieps

From the opening moments of Hold Me Tight (Serre moi fort), French director Mathieu Amalric invites us to put assorted jigsaw puzzle pieces together. Soon revealed as the mother of son Paul and daughter Lucie, Clarisse sits before a dozen face down photos which she turns up and then back to face down, repeating angrily, Let’s start again.

Movie of the Week

MOVIE OF THE WEEK September 9, 2022: HOLD ME TIGHT

September 3, 2022September 4, 2022 Jennifer Merin Arieh Worthalter, betsy bozdech, Cate Marquis, Christophe Beaucarne, Claudine Galea, Hold Me Tight, jennifer merin, leslie combemale, liz whittemore, loren king, Marilyn Ferdinand., mathieu Amalric, motw, Movie of the Week, susan wloszczyna, Vicky Krieps

Haunting, engrossing, mysterious — the one thing that director Mathieu Amalric’s melancholy drama Hold Me Tight never is, is predictable. It will keep you guessing and hypothesizing until its final scenes. And thanks to Vicky Krieps’ magnetic performance as Clarisse, a conflicted French wife and mother who abruptly leaves her family early one morning (or does she?), it offers a poignant meditation on the nature of memory and loss, identity and purpose.

Commentaries Festivals Reviews

52nd New York Film Festival: Provocation and Pleasure – Rania Richardson Comments

October 15, 2014June 8, 2020 Rania Richardson (Archived Contributor) 0 Comments Alice Rohrwacher, ben affleck, birdman, blue room, citizenfour, david fincher, Gone Girl, inherent vice, Joaquin Phoenix, laura poitras, mathieu Amalric, New York Film Festival, nyff, paul thomas anderson, reese witherspoon, rosamond pike, the wonder

Many of the films in the recently concluded 52nd New York Film Festival will fill theaters, fuel discussions, and collect awards for months to come. Topping the list is Citizenfour, a late edition to the tightly edited festival’s main slate of 31 features. Other films of particular interest include Birdman, Inherent Vice, and The Wonder.