Private Life

Private Life is a 2018 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Tamara Jenkins and starring Paul Giamatti and Kathryn Hahn, with Kayli Carter, Molly Shannon, John Carroll Lynch, Desmin Borges, and Denis O'Hare in supporting roles. The film focuses on Richard and Rachel, a middle-aged married couple of New York City creatives, who are desperately trying to have a child by any means possible. The film had its world premiere on January 18 at the Sundance Film Festival. It was released on October 5, 2018, by Netflix. Plot Richard and Rachel are a middle-aged couple desperately trying to have a child. After multiple failed attempts at artificial insemination, they attempt in vitro fertilisation. The couple learn that Richard has a blockage that is not letting him produce sperm, forcing him to undergo a surgery that puts him $10,000 in debt to his brother Charlie and his wife Cynthia. At the same time, they are attempting to adopt a child and participate in an interview with a social worker. Some time before, Richard and Rachel became connected with a supposedly pregnant teenager from Little Rock, Arkansas. Upon traveling to Arkansas, the teenager abruptly stopped contact, leading Richard and Rachel to believe they had been victims of an emotional scam. After the IVF fails, their doctor floats the idea of using a donor egg to implant in Rachel, raising their chances of success from 4 to 65 percent. Rachel is initially against it, but slowly begins to consider it with Richard's encouragement.