The return of fall festivals means it’s harder than ever to keep up with the deluge of buzzy new titles, from Venice to Telluride and the upcoming Toronto and New York film festivals. Among the many toasts of two of these (specifically Venice and NYFF) is Maggie Gyllenhaal’s feature directorial debut, “The Lost Daughter.” It’s based on a novel by elusive Italian author Elena Ferrante about a woman thrown down a rabbit hole of memory after encountering another young woman while on summer holiday.

While Gyllenhaal contributed a short film to the quarantine omnibus “Homemade,” this marks her first time in the director’s chair. Previously, though, she portrayed someone working behind the camera as her character Candy Merrell in HBO’s beloved cult series “The Deuce.” Candy is a sex worker turned entrepreneur turned porn film director. And it was playing that role, as Gyllenhaal explained