Private Life (2018)
Storyline
Richard and Rachel, a couple in the throes of infertility, try to maintain their marriage as they descend deeper and deeper into the insular world of assisted reproduction and domestic adoption.
Directors
Writers
Cast
Desmin Borges, Molly Shannon, Kathryn Hahn, Denis O'Hare, Siobhan Fallon Hogan, John Carroll Lynch, Paul Giamatti, Tracee Chimo, Gabrielle Reidy, Fenton Lawless, Alyssa Cheatham, Kayli Carter, Emily Robinson, Kerry Flanagan, Francesca Root-Dodson, Kelly Miller, Amaya Press, Samantha Buck, Danny Deferrari, Caroline Martin
Trailer
Reviews
100
Jenkins’ writing underlines the fundamental instability at the heart of all our lives, while proposing that most universal of remedies: empathy, love.
91
Crucially, these characters are so believable that every scene has an internal logic and justifies itself.
87
Giamatti gives one of his surest, simplest performances in quite a while, playing a supportive husband who, we suspect, may not be quite as gung-ho about conceiving as his wife is. And while Carter is very good as a young woman trying to find herself—full of youthful enthusiasm but also provocation—Private Life is mostly a glorious showcase for Hahn.
83
A generous, graceful, full-hearted drama about the complexities of desiring a child when your physiology denies you at every turn.
80
Time Out
The riskiness of [Jenkins'] set-up, one that blooms with complications and rawness, is a thing of adventurous beauty. Her film is a gift to those people who discretely flinch at every dinner party and kid-celebratory anecdote.
