PRIVATE LIFE
US, 2018, 123 minutes, Colour.
Paul Giamatti, Kathryn Hahn, Kayli Carter, Denis O' Hare, Molly Shannon, John Carroll Lynch.
Directed by Tamara Jenkins.
The title does not quite do justice to the themes of the film. It is a film about a middle-aged couple and their desire to have a child, by means of in vitro or of adoption. The couple are played, with strong performances, by the ever-reliable Paul Giamatti and Kathryn Hahn, moving away from her frequent roles in broad comedy.
Various attempts to conceive have failed. A meeting with a prospective mother whose baby they might adopt comes to nothing. They have a sympathetic extended family, with in-laws played by Molly Shannon and John Carroll Lynch. Their daughter, who wants to be a writer, comes to stay with them, even offering to become a surrogate mother for them but she makes a number of mistakes and fails them.
So, this is a portrait of a loving couple, years of marriage, tensions between them, tensions aggravated and their having to come to some kind of decision, especially after the failure of help from their niece.
A topical drama enabling audiences to have some kind of understanding of an empathy for these parents who want to have a child.
1. The title, the tone? Ordinary people?
2. New York city, homes, fertility centres, hospitals? The world of doctors, therapists? Interstate, homes, outings? The writer’s mansion? The musical score?
3. Richard and Rachel, their story, the long marriage, their respective careers, age, their relatives, visits, the Thanksgiving dinner?
4. Fertility issues, audiences identifying with them, from the male point of view, significantly from the female point of view? Richard, the issue of testicles, sperm? Rachel, the ovaries? The history of attempts? Acknowledging the problems, issues of adoption, interviews and discussions with people and experience, the contacts, the young woman on Skype, going to Little Rock, her not showing? Issues of IVF, the interviews, Dr Dordek, his advice, their considerations, Richard and the attempt for sperm, the failure? His response? Rachel's reaction? Further information, possibilities, the costs, getting the $10,000? The continued experiments, the bond between the two, the tensions?
5. Richard, at 47, his phlegmatic character, his theatre career, the situation and his being partially resigned, the love for Rachel, their scenes together, Rachel and her moods, her priorities, the failures, checking the Internet for possible surrogate mothers? Evaluating them? The consequences?
6. Sadie, her life, her relationship with Cynthia, with her father, her sister, the phone calls, failures, extended exams? Her wanting to be a writer, her mother’s disapproval? Going to New York, the bond with Richard and Rachel, the visit, the idea of offering the surrogacy to her, her thinking it over, the tests, the procedures?
7. Sadie, sharing with Richard and Rachel, their care for her? The details of her living with them?
8. The Thanksgiving dinner, giving thanks, Cynthia, Sadie and her speech, Richard and Rachel and hesitations, the reactions, Cynthia and her outbursts, their leaving? The brother reassuring the money? Cynthia, menopausal behaviour, reactions? The other daughter, the joyful news of her getting into college?
9. The aftermath, Sadie and her attraction to the neighbour, going out on the date, the promise of no sexual encounter, her being late for the appointment, Rachel's reaction? The discovery that Sadie had taken the extra dose, not wanting to fail? Failure, her despair? Richard and Rachel and the reactions, response?
10. Going back to basics, more issues of adoption, the couple being resigned? Wanting children, at their age, the success and failures in their careers, Richard in the theatre, Rachel and the publication of her book at her outburst against the cover?
11. Going to the writer's mansion, Sadie enrolled, the lavish room, her gratitude?
12. Going back to adoption, going to the cafe, waiting for the prospective mother, an appropriate ending for the film?
13. Contemporary issues, fertility, marriage, family and children? Moral issues? Morale issues?
