Private Life

A film set in New York. Richard and Rachel are in their late forties. He is a theatre director, she is a writer. They have been trying to have a child for years and the effort has settled at the centre of their lives. The film covers the whole process in detail: tests, injections, clinic appointments, the arithmetic of money, an adoption application and waiting lists. It does not dramatise these; it shows them as the steps of a job. At some point egg donation comes up. Richard's step-niece Sadie has left university and wants to be a writer; she comes to stay with them. The proposal is put to her. She agrees. An arrangement of three then forms and everyone expects something different. Sadie considers herself part of this family; the couple see her as a solution. What the film is interested in is not infertility but what a couple locked onto one goal for a long time have become to each other. The arguments happen in the kitchen, in the car and in waiting rooms. The register sits between comedy and drama and the film overplays neither. Paul Giamatti plays Richard, Kathryn Hahn plays Rachel and Kayli Carter plays Sadie. Molly Shannon and John Carroll Lynch are in the cast. Tamara Jenkins directed and wrote it. It was released on a streaming service. A strong production for anyone who likes character drama and sharp dialogue. For a viewer expecting a clear close, the film offers no resolution.