Review: Private Life

Private Life takes a microscope approach in studying one couple’s personal struggles with infertility. This affecting story descends deeper into the lives of Richard (Academy Award-nominee Paul Giamatti) and Rachel (Kathryn Hahn), as we personally connect with their pain and love binding this film together. It's one of the best from 2018. 

---

​Private Life is a portrait of reality and the burdens that come with it. Writer-director Tamara Jenkins (Juliet, Naked and The Savages) guides the audience through a rough journey, resulting in a rewardingly raw look at a husband and wife desperate for a family. Giamatti and Hahn wonderfully connect together during this heart-rending experience.  With sharp writing executed by Jenkins, Private Life is a profound motion picture that goes beyond the central realms of past dramedies and produces something much more raw and real. Distributed by Netflix, our film follows Richard (a strong Paul Giamatti) and Rachel (a knockout Kathryn Hahn), a middle-aged couple in the throes of infertility as it takes a toll on their marriage.
​

​Both high in literature, Rachel is a playwriter and Richard is a theatre director. They try artificial insemination (AI) and in vitro fertilization (IVF), all which fail. At the same time, they are also attempting to adopt a child after having previously being matched with a pregnant teenager from Arkansas who was in the process of giving up her child, then stopped contacting them. Jenkins unravels an honest and painfully personal portrayal for the viewers. This is Jenkins' first film back in the director’s chair since The Savages (2007). It’s been eleven years, yet her patience in storytelling and keen filmmaking craft never ceases to still amaze me. Jenkins knows how to develop a narrative that can both have you laughing and crying all at once.

​Giamatti and Hahn are a revelation on screen together as their chemistry rewardingly morphs together. After the IVF fails, Richard and Rachel decide to go a different route, by asking Richard’s step-niece, Sadie (a wonderful Kayli Carter), to become an egg donor for them. Sadie is a 25-year-old, who has recently decided to drop out of college. She agrees to donate one of her eggs and comes to stay with them in their flat on East 6th Street and Avenue A, in Lower Manhattan, NY. Private Life is a bumpy ride, but Jenkins exquisitely guides us through that trek. At the end of this painful battle, we find empathy and love with Richard and Rachel. Private Life​ is a bona fide movie that’s not afraid, to tell the truth, warts and all. 

Private Life is rated R (Restricted). For strong sexual content, some graphic nudity, and language.