Jodie Foster was warmly embraced by director Rebecca Zlotowski at the Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday night after their new film Vie Privée received an eight-minute standing ovation. While the crowd cheered loudly for Foster, she humbly redirected attention to Zlotowski, encouraging the audience to celebrate the filmmaker’s moment.
Vie Privée is a French-language mystery that follows a psychotherapist who suspects her patient’s apparent suicide was actually a murder. The film blends thriller elements with introspective drama and a touch of dark comedy, drawing comparisons to Only Murders in the Building with a French twist.
The premiere attracted a host of celebrities. Gael García Bernal and Alejandro González Iñárritu were spotted before the screening, while Scarlett Johansson walked the red carpet with husband Colin Jost and 95-year-old actress June Squibb, the star of Johansson’s directorial debut Eleanor the Great. Oscar-winner Adrien Brody also attended, along with James Franco, who appeared despite past controversy, introduced as a star of Spring Breakers.
The film marks Foster’s first French-language project since A Very Long Engagement in 2004. Fluent in French, Foster told Variety that she had been waiting for the right script to return to French cinema.
“I didn’t want a flashy co-production,” she said. “I love French films, but many are observational. I need a story that builds character and moves forward. Vie Privée had everything I was looking for.”
Foster stars alongside Daniel Auteuil, who plays her ex-husband, and Virginie Edina, who portrays the mysterious patient at the heart of the investigation. Zlotowski, known for Grand Central and Planetarium, wrote and directed the film. Sony Pictures Classics will distribute it in North America.
A Cannes regular, Foster received an Honorary Palme d’Or in 2021 and has premiered several films at the festival, including Taxi Driver, which won the top prize in 1976. Her recent return to acting has been well received, with an Oscar nomination for 2023’s Nyad and an Emmy win for 2024’s True Detective: Night Country.
“I’m picky,” Foster said. “I don’t act just to act. The project has to really mean something to me.”
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