X
- 2018
- R
- Netflix
- 2 h 3 m
- 2018
- R
- Netflix
- 2 h 3 m
Summary Rachel (Kathryn Hahn) and Richard (Paul Giamatti) are a couple in the throes of infertility who try to maintain their marriage as they descend deeper and deeper into the insular world of assisted reproduction and domestic adoption. After the emotional and economic upheaval of in vitro fertilization, they’re at the end of their middle-age...
Directed By: Tamara Jenkins
Written By: Tamara Jenkins
- 2018
- R
- Netflix
- 2 h 3 m
- 2018
- R
- Netflix
- 2 h 3 m
Private Life
7.6
Where to Watch
Summary Rachel (Kathryn Hahn) and Richard (Paul Giamatti) are a couple in the throes of infertility who try to maintain their marriage as they descend deeper and deeper into the insular world of assisted reproduction and domestic adoption. After the emotional and economic upheaval of in vitro fertilization, they’re at the end of their middle-age...
Directed By: Tamara Jenkins
Written By: Tamara Jenkins
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 32 Critic Reviews
83
94% Positive
30 Reviews
30 Reviews
3% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
3% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 32 Critic Reviews
83
94% Positive
30 Reviews
30 Reviews
3% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
3% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
The film's writer-director, Tamara Jenkins is a brilliant chronicler of upper-middle class white people and their foibles, and her eye for detail is anthropologically exact, empathetic but never begging for sympathy.
Jenkins’ writing underlines the fundamental instability at the heart of all our lives, while proposing that most universal of remedies: empathy, love.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 53 User Ratings
7.6
85% Positive
45 Ratings
45 Ratings
11% Mixed
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
4% Negative
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 53 User Ratings
7.6
85% Positive
45 Ratings
45 Ratings
11% Mixed
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
4% Negative
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
Private Life works really well with some comedic Scenes and devastating scenes on the other. Kathryn Hahn and Paul Giamatti deliver career best performances.
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When movies address fertility problems – something they rarely do in the first place – it’s usually with something less than the honesty on display in Private Life.
As both writer and director, Jenkins pushes us to rise above judgment by steadfastly refusing to indulge in it herself. Deep empathy suffuses the screen, enveloping every one of the characters.
The film’s dramatic core, its vision of what this kind of experience can do to a marriage, is rock solid, because Jenkins explores it with a high degree of specificity, precisely dramatizing her own difficult experiences.
Looked at independently, so many scenes contain something raw or truthful that one understands Jenkins' reluctance to trim.
Instead of offering a probing, nuanced view of the burgeoning technologies and sciences involved in this relatively new outgrowth of the OBGYN industry, though, Tamara Jenkins uses her setting as fodder for lame and discomfiting physical comedy.
Tamara Jenkins’ long overdue return is a hilarious & devastating depiction of modern child conception. Kathryn Hahn is outstanding & Giamatti is the most on brand since Sideways. Great support from Molly Shannon and John Carrol Lynch as well. I love both of Jenkins' other two films and have long lamented her absence. She is so great at mining from life experiences that almost anyone can recognize and relate to, while still crafting carefully plotted stories filled with humor that never feels forced. Hopefully this will be a big hit and Netflix will give her a ton of money to make another film sooner rather than later! I love this film, I adore Jenkins and I hate that we've only gotten 3 films from her in 22 years.
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with equal sincerity..
Private Life
Jenkins's journey is quite out there, it doesn't flinch on exploring such a delicate subject, the honesty and the nakedness of it is what's poetic about this unusual family drama. Jenkins accounts in each character with equal sincerity. Her mannerism is to respect the entire tale, no matter how small the character factors in on the bigger picture, she justifies their action by conveying their entire tale into a conversation. And the conversations are pragmatic, sharp on the point and is smartly weaved out from the narration.
The bickerings are the best part. They elevate the momentum and Jenkins has captured the real essence of how a couple argues, and after picking you up and dropping you from the peak of this soothing tale, it melts down into an emotional moment that lets you float down the road rather than have a free fall. This subjective procedure of hers is carried on throughout the course of the feature by her, the quality is persistent. The magnitude of the exhilaration that this couple feels on taking such bold new steps is communicated clearly with the audience.
The movie, television and pop culture references imputed on the conversations works like a charm, it eases off the viewers and draws out the humor through it with fluidity. It has a buoyant script. Jenkins keeps giving it back as soon as you finish up your little packets of appetite. The emotionally fueled middle act leaves a long lasting impact on you where each explicitly written word on script foliates aptly into the screen. The guards of the characters are straight away down from the first frame of the feature. The awkwardness, pointing out the elephant in the room, the humbleness, these are the real gem of the feature.
The feelings that this complex family share is immensely pleasing to encounter. Giamatti brings out that typical "guy" from a couple especially when there is an argument. Actually, his character is much smarter and mature than we usually gets. And he fabricates it aptly on the screen. Hahn on the other hand is more moody and emotionally driven as she should be. Her portrayal is heartwarming and grows more and more on you as it ages on screen. Carter, Lynch and Shannon, the supporting cast are convincing too in their roles. It is accurately suffice. Jenkins is very well aware of each character's perspective.
She lets them put their points on table and gives the actors enough range and space to steal the moments on the screen. The narration is adaptive and gripping and even though it may not be metaphorical or poetic, it is certainly layered and competent enough to keep you hooked for its runtime. It keeps you busy with its screenplay that keeps enfolding into a much more juicier content than we ever expect it to be. Private Life might be private, but is still general, only the topic of discussion is different, the soul reasoning is meticulous and deeply gritty in this practical world.
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Stark and sad, with bits of humor. I ached for this couple trying to conceive, trying to persevere one depressing setback after another. Their niece, young and idealistic and so naive, makes the perfect foil.
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PRIVATE LIFE prohibits life in its narrative. Hahn and Giamatti are sore, emotionally undeveloped in opposition to parade of disappointments where the hope is cruelly situated. Insinuating to keep it real, barely connecting.
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