“A Private Life” is Jodie Foster’s moving French masterpiece

During an exhilarating moment of tension in Jodie Foster’s new film, “A Private Life,” Foster’s character, Lilian Steiner, an American psychoanalyst living in France who suspects foul play after the sudden and mysterious death of one of her longtime patients, breaks character — at least in a manner of speaking. Trying to reach a hypnotist who she believes has the missing piece of the puzzle she’s found herself caught up in, Lilian hits a dead end. The hypnotist refuses to talk. “It’s Friday,” the hypnotist tells Lilian.