A Private Life Worth Exploring

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By Tom Pacak

Sometimes people are willing to do almost anything to achieve their goals, even if it means sacrificing things you love in the process. Richard (Paul Giamatti) and Rachel (Kathryn Hahn) the protagonists in “Private Life” remind me of those types of people. In “Private Life,” Richard and Rachel are desperately trying to have a child. The couple has tried almost everything in the book to have a kid with no good result. They’ve tried artificial insemination, IVF, and even adoption hasn’t worked well. A hilarious scene shows the couple fighting over whether to keep a painting of a vagina up while a potential single mother comes by. 

That’s the setup of “Private Life,” a hilarious warm-hearted tale about a couple trying to start a family. Most movies tell tales about couples trying to raise their kids or a pregnant couple waiting for the delivery. Here, director and writer Tamara Jenkins (Savages) takes a different route to show us a couple who wants a family but can’t find the right way to start one. This is a journey that a lot of married couples can relate to. Both Richard and Rachel love each other. They have decent careers as writers in the theater industry even it if means not having a steady income. The apartment they’re staying in is a dump and is pretty messy inside. It makes you wonder if this couple is even ready to have a child to begin with.

Richard’s brother Charlie (John Carroll Lynch) and Charlie’s wife Cynthia (Molly Shannon) are stressed that the couple may not be up for the challenge. Richard even tries to get $10000 from Charlie so he can have an operation done on his sperm blockage. Then comes Sadie (Kayli Carter), the wise but scattered brain daughter of Cynthia who has no clue what do with her life. She goes to Richard and Rachel for advice on life even if they don’t exactly have the advice for her. Sadie sees them as better parent figures than her own parents. What the couple sees in her is an opportunity to ask her to donate some of her eggs. Immediately, Sadie is in. She really has nothing going for herself at the moment and believes giving the gift of the life is an extraordinary experience.

I love the use of humor that Tamara Jenkins uses when her characters are put through several obstacles. There are moments in “Private Life” that remind me of situations you see in the great TV sitcoms. Whether it’s Richard trying to turn the volume down with a broken remote on a pornographic video while at the sperm bank or Rachel’s doctor (Denis O’Hare) singing prog rock while examining her genitalia, all these scenes help make the couple’s struggle to have a kid seem real. It makes the movie interesting, funny, and very relatable for couples going through this.

“Private Life” is also a movie that works because its actors are so good. Giamatti and Hahn have great chemistry showing a flawed couple who just wants the best for each other. Their humor is what keeps them together. Rachel hilariously compares Richard as Guy Woodhouse (from Rosemary’s Baby) when he considers the idea for donor eggs. The real heart of this surprise tale is Sadie. Kayli Carter gives a great breakout role as the daughter figure to this couple who just wants the best out of them.  She’s not in it for the money or the label she genuinely cares about what’s best for them. When you watch Rachel and Richard raise Sadie, you just know they’ll make great parents someday.

Note: Now Streaming on Netflix


Rating: 4 Stars out of 4

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