Movie Review of “Private Life”

By Lorraine Glowczak

Rated: R

Although it took me a while to realize that parenthood wasn’t in the cards for me, there was a time that I longed for and tried to have at least one child. That’s why I couldn’t resist watching the Netflix movie, “Private Life”, that was also in theaters in limited locations.

“Private Life” is about a bohemian and artistic married couple, Rachel (Kathryn Hahn) and Richard (Paul Giamatti), who live in New York’s East Village and are desperately wanting to have a child but are having difficulty conceiving.

Rachel is a writer whose new novel is about to be published. Richard used to run an experimental theater but now runs an artisanal pickle company. The couple are educated, sophisticated, witty and fun people who are admired and loved profusely by their step-niece, 25-year-old Sadie (Kalie Carter). Sadie is the step-daughter of Richard’s brother, Charlie (John Carroll Lynch) who is married to Sadie’s mother, Cynthia (Molly Shannon).

In spite of multiple failed attempts at artificial insemination as well as a failure in vitro fertilization, they never give up. They even have signed up to adopt a child. They connect with a pregnant teenager from Little Rock, who was looking to give up her child. They go to meet her, but she doesn’t’ show up at the agreed upon location.

In comes Sadie. She decides to leave her college writing program to finish in absentia and go live with Richard and Rachel. Rachel, who struggled with the idea of an unknown egg donor, decides that she wants to ask Sadie for her eggs. To their surprise, Sadie quickly agrees, both because she loves Richard and Rachel and because she thinks the egg donation will bring meaning to her life.

Sadie is told at a doctor’s appointment that she is not developing eggs quickly enough. Determined not to let Richard and Rachel down, she increases her drug dosage on her own.

Richard and Rachel go through with the implantation, but it is a failure.

Nine months later Richard and Rachel receive a call from another woman looking at them as potential parents to adopt her child. The couple drive to an Applebee's where they wait to meet the woman. Does this woman offer the child that the couple have yearned for? You’ll have to see for yourself.

“Private Life” is definitely a must see for everyone – whether you have had children, or you have struggled to do so. You will enjoy this witty film that contains authenticity and love.