Paul Giamatti and Kathryn Hahn surprisingly make the most believable and down-to-earth cinematic couple. Tamara Jenkins' Private Life is an amazing look at a couple's journey of attempting to have their first child. While both of these leads provide honest and raw performances, I found myself most engaged in the story. Accompanied by some creative cinematography and solid supporting performances, I absolutely adored this movie. However, I desperately wish that I would have watched this before 2018 had ended, as it definitely would have made it on my Top 20 list.
Hahn and Giamatti play Rachel and Richard, a mid-life couple trying any means necessary in order to have their first child as they fear they are growing too old. As their various attempts of different procedures and operations go wrong, they start to lose hope until they agree to let their niece Sadie, played by Kayli Carter, move in with them. Sadie becomes an integral part of this couple's story and the character development between all three of them is incredible to see. Not only is Sadie a vital piece of solving this couple's puzzle, but they begin to start a sort of family of their own. This, of course, is shown by the performances by all three of these actors and actresses as they progress through this film's narrative. Hahn and Giamatti have amazing chemistry and despite their typical comedy backgrounds, they were able to show some fantastic acting chops in practically every scene. The tenderness and care put into each performance were great, and the absolute raw nature of this movie's subject matter only helped that. I could truly see every emotion through these performers' portrayals. Carter's character provided a nice contrast to the couple too, as she initially brought in a lighter tone and more comedic air. Once she eventually became a deeper part of the couple's pregnancy plans, that is when the motivations and aspirations of each individual character intertwined to make for an extremely compelling story.
Tamara Jenkins' writing and directing for Private Life is incredibly impressive. I am not sure if this film is based upon any personal experiences for her, but whether it is or not, the subject matter proves to be emotionally devastating. Jenkins' script is amazing and shows that this slice-of-life topic should not be taken lightly. As much as we take life and childbirth for granted, it is definitely not that easy for many others. This film showed the darker side of wanting to bring new life to the world but being unable to. Both Hahn and Giamatti displayed their roles perfectly for the amount of despair and grief that this couple had to go through. The directing in this film is fantastic too, as the story moves along very nicely from one pregnancy procedure to the next. My one small issue with this film is that there never seems to be a solid structure for its narrative. Three basic acts can be seen but I could not feel the emotional swells of the movie despite its substance; performances are the one aspect that truly carried it. I loved the cinematography from Christos Voudouris as well, and his use of small-scale framing. Even though these main characters lived in a cramped, New York apartment with two big dogs, I could feel the entire world that had been built around them. Voudouris also experiments with focus techniques and different kinds of shots for the individual characters, which resulted in some beautiful camerawork.
Private Life is a personal and engaging look at a mid-life couple's struggle to get pregnant. Hahn and Giamatti's chemistry was fantastic and I love the various directions that the story took. Even though the overall narrative was not the most compelling, this fictional slice-of-life movie was able to bring out so many different emotions.
My Rating: ★★★½
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