Even as Jenkins brings out the angst, her inner comic strategist remains hard at work, building sly jokes into the edge of the frame; she has a talent for rendering comedy and tragedy virtually indistinguishable.
Jenkins has made a film about marriage and family and personhood, catching Rachel and Richard at a time in their lives where something is missing, and a child just seems like that crucial piece of the puzzle.
You don't have to have had any experience with the difficulties of getting pregnant to enjoy a comedy that is saved from charges of urbane preciousnesses by Giamatti and Hahn.
"Private Life" shows considerable skill on the part of Jenkins, who creates the illusion that we're only incidentally watching a movie, that we're really just hanging out with some nice people and seeing how their lives work out.
It's about love, and pain, and marriage, and friendship, and family. And it's also about enduring, about picking yourself up over and over and over, in the eternal hope that something beautiful is waiting around the corner.
Jenkins allows both of her leads actually to be leads: They share the film and most scenes, and much of its vital power arises from the connection between them.
The struggle to conceive isn't a new subject, but this comedy drama highlights its fraughtness and absurdity via a perceptive, often hilarious script and two hugely likeable leads in Paul Giamatti and Kathryn Hahn.
In Richard [director Tamara] Jenkins has created a role that fits Mr. Giamatti, who has always been great at comic gloom, like a glove that should have been one size larger.
