Cannes, France, May 27, 2025 – French filmmaker Rebecca Zlotowski has spent her career crafting intimate, emotionally resonant stories that explore the complexities of human relationships. But her latest project, A Private Life (Vie Privée), which premiered out of competition at the 78th Cannes Film Festival last week, marks a milestone that transcends her previous achievements. The film stars Jodie Foster in her first leading French-language role in two decades, a casting coup that Zlotowski describes as the culmination of a lifelong dream. In a series of interviews during the festival, Zlotowski revealed, “I waited a long time to find the right role for Jodie Foster—casting her is my greatest honor.” As the film garners acclaim and Foster’s performance captivates audiences, Zlotowski’s journey to bring this vision to life offers a testament to her dedication, her reverence for Foster, and the power of cinematic collaboration.

A Director’s Lifelong Fascination

Rebecca Zlotowski’s admiration for Jodie Foster began long before she became a filmmaker. Born in 1980, Zlotowski grew up in a world where Foster was already an icon, her performances in films like Taxi Driver (1976) and The Silence of the Lambs (1991) leaving an indelible mark on cinema. In an interview with Le Monde on May 12, Zlotowski reflected on her childhood fascination with Foster, particularly her role in Foxes (1980), a film about teenage rebellion that captured the “intoxication of freedom” through Foster’s clear-eyed intensity. “Despite a nearly 20-year age difference, the fascination that [Foster] exerts on me has never waned,” Zlotowski said, describing how the American actress’s raw authenticity spoke to her even as a young girl.

Zlotowski burst onto the French film scene with her debut feature Belle Épine (Dear Prudence) in 2010, a film that premiered at Cannes’ Critics’ Week and explored the death of a mother—a tragedy that marked Zlotowski’s own childhood after losing her mother to a stroke at age 11. Even then, she dreamed of working with Foster, envisioning her in a small role as the mother of Léa Seydoux in Belle Épine. The script was sent to Foster, but it remained unanswered, a missed opportunity that lingered in Zlotowski’s mind for over a decade. “It’s as if I’ve spent my whole life searching for the right character to offer Jodie Foster,” she told Le Monde, a sentiment that underscores her persistence and vision.

Over the years, Zlotowski established herself as one of France’s most prominent directors, with films like Grand Central (2013) in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard, An Easy Girl (2019) at the Directors’ Fortnight, and Other People’s Children (2022) in competition at Venice. Her work often blends emotional depth with a sun-kissed sensuality, exploring themes of family, identity, and transformation. But the dream of directing Foster remained a constant, a goal that shaped her creative journey. “I had the title, Vie Privée, that obsessed me, and I had a person, Jodie Foster, that obsessed me,” Zlotowski told Vanity Fair on May 20. “I’ve never seen someone with such intelligence visible on her face. You can touch the rapidity, the quickness of the thought, and the struggle between body and mind.”

Finding the Perfect Role

The opportunity finally arrived with A Private Life, Zlotowski’s sixth feature, a psychological thriller that blends elements of mystery, comedy, and family drama. The film follows Lilian Steiner (Foster), a renowned Parisian psychiatrist who becomes convinced that her patient Paula (Virginie Efira) was murdered, despite reports of suicide. Lilian embarks on a personal investigation, assisted by her ex-husband Gabriel (Daniel Auteuil), uncovering layers of guilt, antisemitism, and past lives through hypnosis. The role demanded a delicate balance of intensity, vulnerability, and humor—a perfect fit for Foster’s talents, and one that Zlotowski had been crafting with her in mind.

“I waited a long time to find the right role for Jodie Foster,” Zlotowski said during an interview at the Deadline Cannes Studio on May 22. The director knew that Foster, who is fluent in French and attended the Lycée Français de Los Angeles, had a deep connection to the language and culture, having appeared in Gallic productions like The Blood of Others (1984) and A Very Long Engagement (2004). But Foster had been hesitant to take on leading French roles, admitting to Reuters on May 22, “I was too scared—I’m worried about making mistakes.” Zlotowski understood this hesitation but saw in Foster the potential to bring something extraordinary to the project. “Casting her is my greatest honor,” she said, a statement that reflects both her admiration and the weight of the collaboration.

Their partnership began to take shape when the two met in Los Angeles, a decade after Zlotowski’s initial outreach for Belle Épine. They spent six to seven hours reviewing the script for A Private Life word for word, a process Foster described to Festival de Cannes on May 20: “I knew then that Rebecca was someone who took her work very seriously; that she had specific ideas for every aspect of the film.” For Zlotowski, this meeting was a turning point, confirming that Foster was not only the right actress for the role but also a collaborator who shared her commitment to authenticity. “I didn’t want to make a big Franco-American co-production, a big fancy film,” Foster told Libération on May 22. “I really wanted to make a real, authentic French movie, and everything that comes with that—the auteur cinema spirit and that the filmmaker is everything.” Zlotowski’s vision aligned perfectly with this desire, creating a film that feels quintessentially French, from its polished Parisian settings to its tonal complexity.

A Collaborative Journey

The making of A Private Life was a deeply collaborative process, one that allowed Zlotowski to explore new dimensions of her craft while giving Foster the space to embrace vulnerability. Zlotowski described their preparation to Deadline on May 22, noting how she and Foster spent a month in Paris before shooting, walking the city “the European way” and visiting renowned female psychiatrists to research Freudian analysis. “They were thrilled to have Jodie,” Zlotowski said, laughing as she recalled how the psychiatrists tried to hide their excitement. These visits, where they discussed the film and even playfully debated lying on the couch versus sitting in a chair, deepened their understanding of Lilian’s character and the emotional stakes of the story.

Zlotowski’s direction brought out a side of Foster that audiences rarely see—a spiky vitality and unexpected playfulness, as noted by The Hollywood Reporter on May 23. Foster herself acknowledged the challenge of acting in French, telling Vanity Fair on May 20, “When you get older, it’s really hard to learn lines—so learning lines in a different language is one hundred times harder.” But she also found the experience transformational: “I’m a different person in French than I am in English. I have a much higher voice, I’m much less confident, and I get very frustrated.” This vulnerability added a layer of authenticity to her portrayal of Lilian, a character who unravels under the weight of guilt and obsession, even dabbling in hypnosis—a practice she once dismissed as quackery.

The film’s tonal shifts, from suspense to comedy to introspection, reflect Zlotowski’s willingness to take risks, a quality that Foster admired. “It’s a lot more fun than it probably deserves to be thanks to the disarming chemistry of its seasoned leads,” wrote The Hollywood Reporter, highlighting the dynamic between Foster and Auteuil. Variety noted on May 21 that the film is “a throwback to the character-driven dramas that defined Foster’s early career,” while Screen Daily called it an “odd, uneven, likeable whodunnit” with “tonal tremors” that make it uniquely Zlotowski. For the director, working with Foster allowed her to explore these shifts with confidence, knowing that her star could navigate the complexity with ease.

A Milestone for Both Women

The premiere of A Private Life at Cannes on May 20 was a moment of triumph for Zlotowski, who received a 10-minute standing ovation alongside Foster and the cast, which includes Virginie Efira, Daniel Auteuil, Mathieu Amalric, and Vincent Lacoste. “That I could make this film with Jodie is thanks to Cannes,” Zlotowski told Vanity Fair. “It gave us this chance.” The festival has been a significant part of both women’s careers—Zlotowski’s debut premiered there in 2010, and Foster has been a regular since Taxi Driver won the Palme d’Or in 1976, later receiving an Honorary Palme d’Or in 2021.

For Zlotowski, the honor of casting Foster goes beyond professional achievement—it’s a personal milestone that connects her to her earliest inspirations as a filmmaker. “Rebecca Zlotowski, la lumière et les fantômes” (the light and the ghosts), as Le Monde titled its profile of her on May 12, captures the essence of her work: a blend of luminous storytelling and the haunting presence of her past, particularly the loss of her mother. Directing Foster, an actress who embodies both strength and vulnerability, allowed Zlotowski to channel these themes into a story that resonates on multiple levels.

As A Private Life prepares for its theatrical release on November 26, 2025, through Sony Pictures Classics in North America and Ad Vitam in France, Zlotowski’s dream has become a reality that’s touching audiences worldwide. Fans on X have echoed the sentiment of festivalgoers, with posts praising Foster’s “impeccable French” and Zlotowski’s “captivating” direction. For Zlotowski, the journey to this moment was worth the wait. “Jodie Foster est incroyable avec un français si parfait,” one festivalgoer wrote on X, a sentiment that reflects the awe Zlotowski herself feels. In casting Foster, she not only found the perfect Lilian Steiner but also honored a lifelong dream—one that will continue to inspire her as she shapes the future of French cinema.