Netflix has, for better or worse, delivered the future of cinema. The streaming giant changed the way we watch movies and, depending on where the pieces fall after the pandemic is over, might be the primary way we watch them in the future. As movie studios decide they’d rather make a billion dollars with one 200-million-dollar movie, instead of making 200 million with ten three-million-dollar movies, the mid-tier studio drama is practically extinct. Seeing a market in need of exploiting - or just hoping to win themselves some Oscar prestige - Netflix has thrown money at a few auteurs. At least this is how I assume Tamara Jenkins' third film. "Private Life," ended up being a Netflix original.
Richard and Rachel are trying to have a baby. Richard and Rachel have been trying to have a baby for years now. Their latest attempt involves expensive fertility drugs, which does little to help, while also working on adoption. At the same time, Richard's niece Sadie is having troubles with her mom. After dropping out of school, Sadie ends up living with her uncle and aunt. The couple touch upon the idea to have Sadie be their egg donor. (Which would raise their chances of success from 4 to 60 percent.) Everyone, with the exception of Sadie's parents, likes the idea... But things will not go as smoothly as the couple hopes.
"Private Life" is another Tamara Jenkins film, essentially, about adults having a mid-life crisis. Rachel and Richard have become obsessed with the idea of having a baby. Their sex life is suffering. Their relationship is strained, as every waking moment is fixated on this goal. Both are suffering from the constant messages that something is wrong with their bodies, something is wrong with them. As they both vocalize throughout the film, they feel like there is something they have to do and time is very quickly running out. This mirror Sadie's quarter-life crisis, as she struggles to forge her own identity and figure out how to navigate the world. All the central characters are gripped by this idea that they have to desperately get their shit together before it's too late.
It's also pretty funny, in the slice-of-life, neurotic way that characterized Jenkins' other movies. Richard and Rachel's quest to become parents puts them in many awkward situations. Such as Richard, sitting in the clinic's room devoted to procuring a sperm sample, being increasingly underwhelmed with the selection of pornography. Or Rachel's doctor, as he prepares to take an egg sample, deciding to flick on some prog-rock. The journey to find a donor brings up a lot of insecurities, Rachel triggering several very personal arguments in very public places. (This seems to be a reoccurring feature of Jenkins' films.) Ultimately, the funniest moment in the film occurs when Sadie announces her donor status around the Thanksgiving table. An argument, involving the furious slicing of a turkey, goes on in the other room while another family member attempts a solemn speech about his sobriety.
Yet, as funny as "Private Life," it's also a deeply sad movie. Like all of Jenkins' films, the movie is frequently episodic. (Which also causes me to suspect, like her last two movies, there's a degree of autobiographical elements here as well.) As in real life, the film's funny episodes often co-exist alongside its sad ones. One of the most affecting moments concerns a girl Rachel and Richard previously chose as their adoption donor. The two forged a loving bond before the girl disappeared, cutting off all contact with them. Jenkins depicts this crushing disappointment as intimately depicted flashbacks, as Paul Giamatti calmly delivers a quietly sad monologue about the events.
“Private Life” is largely built around a trio of wonderful performances. Katherine Hahn stars as Rachel. Rachel is, considering the pressure she's under and the role hormones plays in her life, prone to emotional outbursts. Her arguments with her husband tend to be very intense indeed. Yet Hahn never plays the character as a caricature, a screaming emotional woman. Instead, Rachel is deeply wounded by imperfections largely perceived by her. More than anyone else, she feels like time is running out for her, for her chance to self-realize as a fully formed adult. Hahn shows all these complexities with humor and depth.
Starring opposite Hahn is Paul Giamatti as Richard. Giamatti is playing very much to type here. Richard is neurotic and prone to grousing. He's sexual in a very nerdy way, often wearing his desires out in an unseemly manner. Yet he's also got a big heart, watching out for his wife as they struggle through this difficult time. The character is also more relaxed in his own skin than Rachel, enough that you can believable his niece would consider him the “cool” uncle. Giamatti, of course, is extremely good at mixing together a character's unlikable qualities with an off-beat sense of humor. He provides most of the movie's laughs as well as much of its big heart.
“Private Life” also represents a natural evolution of the visual motifs that Jenkins introduced in “The Savages.” Jenkins employs an almost documentary-like immediacy in many of the scenes. In one moment, Rachel stumbles into a desk while walking across a room, which feels so spontaneous I'm half-convinced it was unplanned. The director often employs a handheld style, further cementing this sense of grounded reality. This is especially apparent in several self-contained moment, which seem to capture memories as they are being formed. “Private Life,” rather fittingly, looks and feels like real life.
If "Private Life" has a serious flaw, it's one you could level at "The Savages" and a lot of other prestige indie dramas. This is very much a movie about Rich White People in NYC. Rachel and Richard are not obscenely well-to-do, as it's repeatedly noted that they live in a low-class area. Yet, for struggling creative types, paying the bills never seems to be a problem. They drop a lot of money on expensive medical treatments, the film only briefly acknowledging how this affects their financial life. Sadie is essentially going towards a bohemian life-style. Yet she, nor her aunt or uncle, ever fear that the girl is going to end up homeless. "Private Life" isn't about economic concerns, so it's fine that this is not the focus. Yet it did occasionally take me out of the movie, thinking about how these characters live in a totally different world than mine.
Tamara Jenkins has made three movies in twenty years. In some ways, I think we're lucky to have the films from her we do. I don't know if Jenkins works at such a slow pace because it's hard for her to procure funding for her projects. I don't know if she only makes a film once a decade because that's just how her creative flow works. Either way, I'm happy that the forces have aligned the times they have for Ms. Jenkins. Her trio of motion pictures are all delightful, nuanced, and wonderfully assembled. I don't know when – or even if – we'll see another movie from her. Yet I certainly hope it comes together. I enjoy the peeks inside her world.
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