At the 78th Cannes Film Festival in May 2025, Jodie Foster captivated audiences with her starring role in Vie Privée (A Private Life), a French-language psychological thriller directed by Rebecca Zlotowski. The film, which premiered out of competition, marked Foster’s first major French-speaking role in two decades, since her appearance in Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s A Very Long Engagement in 2004. Her performance as Lilian Steiner, a psychiatrist investigating the suspicious death of a patient, earned an eight-minute standing ovation and widespread praise for her flawless French and nuanced acting. Yet, during the festival’s press conference, Foster revealed a surprising truth: despite her fluency in French and a career spanning over five decades, she had long avoided leading roles in French films out of fear. “Why didn’t I make a film in French? I was afraid,” she confessed. “A number of directors offered me projects, but I was too scared to act in French. I thought someone who was more familiar with French should do so.” This admission sparked curiosity about why an actor of Foster’s caliber, fluent in French since childhood, had not embraced more French-language projects. This article explores the reasons behind her hesitation, her journey to A Private Life, and the significance of this milestone in her illustrious career.

A Lifelong Connection to French

Jodie Foster’s relationship with the French language began early in life. Born and raised in Los Angeles, she attended the Lycée Français de Los Angeles, a prestigious French-language prep school, where she became fluent in French. Her proficiency was so advanced that she delivered the valedictorian address for the school’s French division at her 1980 graduation. Foster’s fluency allowed her to dub herself in the French versions of most of her English-language films, a rare skill among American actors. She even starred in a French film at age 14, Moi, fleur bleue (Stop Calling Me Baby!), alongside comedian Jean Yanne, and sang two songs in French for the soundtrack. Her parents chose the Lycée Français partly to shield her from the press and stalkers during her early acting career, a decision that not only protected her but also immersed her in French culture and language.

Foster’s connection to France extended beyond language. Her career has been deeply tied to the Cannes Film Festival, where she first appeared as a teenager with Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver (1976), which won the Palme d’Or. She impressed journalists by serving as a French interpreter at the film’s press conference, showcasing her linguistic prowess. Over the years, Foster returned to Cannes with films like Bugsy Malone (1976), Money Monster (2016), and her directorial effort The Beaver (2011). In 2021, she received an honorary Palme d’Or for her lifetime achievements. This longstanding relationship with French cinema and Cannes made her eventual lead role in A Private Life seem almost inevitable, yet her fear of acting in French kept her from fully embracing such opportunities until now.

The Fear of Acting in French

Despite her fluency, Foster admitted that acting in French posed a unique challenge. “This is the first time that I’ve had as much dialogue in a French movie. It was a huge challenge for me,” she said at the Vie Privée press conference. Learning lines in a second language, especially at 62, was daunting. “When you get older, it’s really hard to learn lines—so learning lines in a different language is one hundred times harder,” she told Vanity Fair. Foster’s hesitation stemmed from a fear of not measuring up to native French speakers. “I had secondary parts [in French films] before, but I was actually afraid,” she explained. “I thought someone who was more familiar with French should do so.”

This fear was not about her ability to speak French but about the vulnerability of performing in a language where she felt less confident. Foster noted that acting in French transformed her as an actor: “The great thing, when I act in French, I’m totally different person: My confidence isn’t as high and my voice is higher. It creates a new character for me.” This shift in demeanor—less assured, with a higher-pitched voice—added a layer of authenticity to her portrayal of Lilian Steiner, a character grappling with professional and personal uncertainties. However, it also underscored why Foster had shied away from French roles: the emotional exposure of performing in a less familiar linguistic space was intimidating, even for a two-time Oscar winner.

Foster’s reluctance was also influenced by her high standards as an actor. “I didn’t want to do some overblown American and French co-production,” she told Variety. “As an actor, I need a story. And a lot of French movies, which I love, are behavior films where you just sort of follow people around for three days or something. That’s not what I do. I’m interested in narrative.” Foster’s preference for character-driven, narrative-focused roles limited her French film choices, as she sought projects that aligned with her storytelling sensibilities rather than relying solely on her linguistic skills.

The Allure of A Private Life

What finally drew Foster to A Private Life? The project’s director, Rebecca Zlotowski, played a pivotal role. Zlotowski conceived the film with Foster in mind, envisioning her as the lead from the outset. “I had the title, Vie Privée, that obsessed me, and I had a person, Jodie Foster, that obsessed me,” Zlotowski said. The script, co-written by Zlotowski, Anne Berest, and Gaëlle Macé, offered the narrative depth Foster craved. The story follows Lilian Steiner, an American psychiatrist in Paris who suspects a patient’s suicide was actually a murder and embarks on a private investigation. The film blends psychological thriller elements with dark comedy, reminiscent of Hitchcock or De Palma, and features a stellar French cast, including Daniel Auteuil, Virginie Efira, and Mathieu Amalric.

The role resonated with Foster on multiple levels. The theme of private versus public lives struck a chord with an actor who has fiercely guarded her personal life throughout her career. “There’s a private life, there is a public life, and then there is a secret life,” Zlotowski noted, a dynamic Foster understood intimately. Additionally, the character’s bilingual perspective as an American in Paris allowed Foster to bring her own experiences as an expat to the role, offering “the kind of personal insights only an expat could feel toward the French.” The film’s Parisian setting, with its “polished bronze balustrades in posh stairwells and buzzy wood-lined brasseries,” further immersed Foster in a world she knew well from her time in France.

Foster also appreciated the creative freedom of the European film industry, particularly in France, where directors have more authority to blend genres like thriller and comedy—a rarity in the U.S. “Studios want a film to be either a thriller or a comedy, they don’t want a mixture of the two,” she told Reuters. This flexibility, combined with Zlotowski’s vision and the script’s compelling narrative, convinced Foster to overcome her fears and take on the challenge.

A Transformative Experience

Filming A Private Life from September 30 to November 22, 2024, between Paris and Normandy, was a transformative experience for Foster. She described feeling liberated by the role, a sentiment echoed in her recent career choices. “I do look back on the last four, five things I’ve done, and I just feel so liberated from being so obsessed with being taken seriously,” she told Vanity Fair. Her performance was lauded for its charisma and versatility, with critics comparing her pitch-perfect French to Isabelle Huppert’s. Foster’s chemistry with co-star Daniel Auteuil, who played her ex-husband, added a comedic and romantic spark, particularly in a suspenseful scene where the pair break into a suspect’s home.

The film’s premiere at Cannes was a triumph, not only for Foster but also for Zlotowski, whose fourth Cannes entry solidified her reputation as a leading French director. The eight-minute standing ovation and positive reviews underscored the film’s appeal, particularly for older audiences seeking sophisticated, character-driven dramas. Sony Pictures Classics, the film’s distributor, anticipates strong prospects in French-speaking territories and beyond, driven by Foster’s star power.

Looking Ahead

A Private Life marks a new chapter for Foster, who expressed interest in exploring more comedic roles as she ages. “The older I get, the more I want to be more lighthearted,” she said. Her experience in French cinema has also shifted her perspective on her career. “I feel a lot freer,” she noted, reflecting on her recent projects, including Nyad (2023), which earned her an Oscar nomination, and True Detective: Night Country (2024), which won her an Emmy.

Foster’s journey to A Private Life highlights the complexities of navigating a multilingual career, even for an actor of her stature. Her fear of acting in French, rooted in vulnerability and high standards, ultimately gave way to a performance that showcased her resilience and adaptability. As she continues to take risks—whether in French cinema or new genres—Foster remains a trailblazer, proving that even after 60 years in the industry, there are still new frontiers to conquer.