Olivia Colman in this movie, MY GOODNESS. God, I yearn for movies about grown-ups, about tough ugly shit, with spaces in-between for contemplation AND audience engagement. MESS. I yearn for MESS. The Lost Daughter is Maggie Gyllenhaal’s directorial debut (she adapted Elena Ferrante’s 2006 book). Amazing film and AMAZING central performance. Dakota Johnson is terrific too.
Sheila this is a fantastic review that makes it sound like something tremendously exiting and up my alley except I have a spoiler question please — does the central past/present mystery at stake involve children being seriously harmed? I don’t need tons of detail I just have to be careful what I get into at the moment! If you don’t want to reply here DM me?
Jessie – no children are harmed (except emotionally). But nothing physically disastrous occurs. The trailer makes it look like there’s some kind of violent thing that happens – but that’s incorrect. the main character seems so unstable that you do think “wow, this woman is capable of anything” but it doesn’t go in that direction.
So you can proceed with this knowledge!
It’s soooo interesting about the dynamics among women. I would love to hear your thoughts on it if you decide to watch.
Olivia Colman is out of this world. And Dakota Johnson is amazing. And special shoutout to the actress who plays Callie – I am not familiar with her at all and she kills it. It’s not easy to hold the screen with Olivia Colman – to dominate her – but this actress does.
ah thank you for the extra info, much appreciated!! The dynamics and correspondences and elisions do sound fascinating, and of course watching an actor navigate the unpsoken and unspeakable is one of my favourite things. I only know Dagmara Dominczyk from Succession in which she is a very capable and solid presence but has very little to actually do, so I am keen to see her here! I will def come back when I’ve seen it. I love Olivia Colman.
and it’s this slow reveal of why she is the way she is – but it’s done without being manipulative, or trying to pump up anything. There’s no “oh my gosh this nice woman is a MONSTER” – because she isn’t a monster. She literally is doing her best.
She has one moment that practically made the hair on my arms rise up. It’s Gena-Rowlands-level and I don’t compare anyone to Gena Rowlands.
Ed Harris is great too – his performance is so heavy with meaning and unspoken intent – but I can’t tell if the character really is heavy with unspoken intent – or if it’s what Leda sees? Like, he’s playing her paranoid version of him …
Anyway, enough said until you see it. You might hate it! lol Regardless, would love to hear your take.
Sheila
When I saw there was a movie out based on Elena Ferrante’s books I thought, “Oh Goody!” My Ma was from Napoli and I devoured her series. I didn’t read this one.
In the past few years I have lost track a bit on new actresses and (I thought) I didn’t know who Olivia Colman was. From the first grainy shot I thought, oh great, it’s filmic! Then I thought, yay, it’s a story about a middle age woman with a middle age face and body. And in very short time I thought who is this Olivia Coleman and where has she been all my life? When I started telling a friend of mine to watch this movie she said, “Didn’t you see The Crown?” And it fell into place. “Oh shit, yes that’s her!” When you don’t even think about someone’s acting. She was Queen Elizabeth and that was it.
And this is Maggie Gyllenhaal’s debut? What?! Amazing!
I was riveted right away. I loved your review. Yes, Leda is strange but so is that family on the beach. I cheered when she didn’t move her chair! The way that woman told her I thought yeah, fuck you, I ain’t moving! Though I know if it was me in life I would have moved my chair. Cheers to Coleman’s character for having the balls to say no.
And I kept yelling back at the screen much to Charlie’s amusement, “Would you get rid of that doll?!”
I really loved Jessie Buckley. I loved her face. I felt like I knew her.
We had a kid so young and I know and remember all those feelings. How could I have gotten so mad at my daughter at age 2, how could I feel like I was being completely driven out of my mind when I loved her so? I also had to teach my daughter not to hit me too. When she throws that doll out the window smashing it to pieces and then looks at it in a kind of disbelief she did that. I knew that feeling. Gyllenhaal captures all that.
You could feel that family were a bunch of low lives but so not in an an obvious cliched way. When she stuck that big pin in her gut I gasped out loud but it totally made sense she would do that. Wonderful film.
// And in very short time I thought who is this Olivia Coleman and where has she been all my life? //
I know!! What I love about her is how she seemingly can do anything – if you only saw her in Fleabag, you’d think comedy was her main forte – she’s Catherine-O’Hara level comedic genius. But – just like Catherine O’Hara, too – she’s equally at home in straight drama. And … there’s no difference in approach. It’s all so detailed, so REAL. she’s a phenom!
// Yes, Leda is strange but so is that family on the beach. I cheered when she didn’t move her chair! //
I KNOW. I felt the same way.
// And I kept yelling back at the screen much to Charlie’s amusement, “Would you get rid of that doll?!” // hahahaha that freakin’ DOLL. It made me so nervous that over the course of the film, she stopped caring about hiding the doll -she’d leave it out – it’d be lying out on the terrace, in full view.
The whole thing is so out there but it’s also so real. A woman unraveling. How she thinks she’s going to have a pleasant vacation of reading and relaxing … you realize that no way could this woman relax, any time any where. She’s always going to be haunted by what she did as a young mother. She has banished herself from the possibility of inner peace. Ugh.
sorry it took me so long to get back to this comment! I’m so glad you saw it!
I was planning on spending my New Year’s Eve watching this on Netflix, but apparently it isn’t a world wide Netflix release on the 31st so I will have to wait a little longer. On the plus side it does look like it is getting a theatrical release here so I might hold out and watch it in the theatre!
Can’t wait.
Nicola – would love to hear your thoughts once you’re able to see it!
I went and watched it today. My God I loved it. I LOVED IT. Olivia Colman is really beyond words just in general, but I loved her in this so much.
I’m almost amazed that Maggie Gyllenhaal wrote and directed this as her first film. It’s so accomplished and confident in every way.
I just sat alone in a cinema and I laughed and cried a bit and was so very stressed out. It reminded me, probably because of the setting more than anything else but also that slow building tension, of A Bigger Splash.
I also managed to go in not knowing toooooo much and being wrong about some of the things I assumed and I love to still be able to be surprised. I’m going to need to think about it more and watch it again soon.