The acting is phenomenal, especially from Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley, and it does an excellent job of getting the audience to understand the stress of parenthood. However, the film tried to build up so much tension that never reached its breaking point. Rather, it fizzles out in a very disappointing finale.
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andrewchristianjr7 January 2022
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SnoopyStyle4 January 2022College professor Leda Caruso (Olivia Colman) is vacationing in a sparse Greek resort. A large noisy family invades her peace. She has a confrontation with Nina (Dakota Johnson), a young mother in the group. When Nina loses her girl, Leda manages to find her. They start an uneasy friendship. In flashbacks, a twentysomething Leda (Jessie Buckley) has a troubled relationship with her two daughters.
It's a directing and writing theatrical debut for Maggie Gyllenhaal. From the beginning, I assumed that Nina's daughter is going missing. I took the title to mean that the missing daughter would be the whole movie. When that situation gets resolved so quickly, the narrative story is set adrift. I was wondering where this uneasy situation was going and the movie adds her truly uneasy past. Uneasy seems to be the main feeling coming from this film. It's a compelling portrait of a troubled mind and problematic motherhood. -
classicsoncall30 January 2022I think there are many nuances one can ascribe to the title of the picture, because after all, every female is someone's daughter, whether acknowledged or not. For a small length of time, a young girl at the beach actually does get lost for a while, but in her calm, assured manner, Leda Caruso (Olivia Colman) locates the child, and returns her to an anxious extended family. But even prior to that event, Leda took an interest in the girl's mother (Dakota Johnson), while drawing comparisons to her own life and the way things turned out for her as a forty eight year old professor of comparative literature. It almost looks as if Leda wants to warn Nina (Johnson) not to make the same mistakes she did in raising her own daughters, which she abandoned for a time due to her own selfishness. A telling moment in Leda's past concerned a flashback in which her older daughter cut a finger as a child, and Leda quite pointedly refused to kiss the crying girl's cut, even though she begged her mother numerous times. That struck me as going out of her way to neglect the child's immediate need for recognition, later highlighted in another flashback during Leda's affair with Professor Hardy (Peter Sarsgaard), who quoted French philosopher Simone Weil - "Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity".
The episode with the lost/taken doll was somewhat perplexing. Initially it felt like Leda was going to make some improvement with the doll in the way of a new outfit, but then gets irritated and discards it, retrieves it from the trash, and eventually gives it back to Nina with her confession. Guaging Nina's reaction was puzzling; she had a right to be upset because of the way it unsettled her entire family, but stabbing Leda with the long pin demonstrated an uncontrollable rage that to my mind, outweighed the inconvenience of the missing doll. It would have been a simple matter for Leda to say she wanted to surprise the child, but instead caused more calamity for herself and Nina. Was it a way for Leda to punish herself for her faults as a mother?
Hoping that the long, slow burn of a story would eventually resolve to a comforting conclusion, one will probably be disappointed. The best parallel I can draw is the finale to "No Country for Old Men", in which there is no resolution to the fate of the principal protagonist. I like to think that those type of endings mimic the way real life sometimes happens, with no definitive outcome except the opportunity to move forward, even if unknown to the viewer. If that was director Maggie Gyllenhaal's intent, then she only partially succeeded, since the film's story ends with no constructive lessons offered, and no reconciliation among the main participants. -
drednm1 January 2022This is a long and confusing story about an academic (Olivia Colman) on vacation in Greece whose idyll is interrupted by a loud and sinister family from New York City. One of the women has a small child and it causes Colman to have a series of flashbacks to when she had small daughters who smothered her while she was a doctoral candidate (or a young professor, hard to tell).
The girl on the beach goes missing and Colman finds her. She returns the kid to the loud family but steals the kid's doll which was in the sea. She becomes vaguely friendly with the young mother but is untrusting of the others in the group. There's also a odd "cabana boy" and an old American (Ed Harris) who seems to be her landlord.
As the vacation progresses, we see thru flashbacks more of Colman's dislike of being a mother to squalling brats and Colman seems to be mentally deteriorating between the bitter memories and the ominous family that is everywhere. She spends some time trying to clean up the waterlogged doll but it triggers more flashbacks.
Colman seems to be losing her mind. One final confrontation reveals the truth about her daughters and sets us up for an ambiguous ending on the beach.
Colman is certainly very good but the story is so vague it's hard to get involved with the characters. -
marinameila12 January 2022A woman (this woman, Leda Caruso, played by Olivia Colman) needs a partner, motherhood, career, and intellectual growth in her passion for literature and languages. One could say she loves all these. But when in 24 hours/day to give her attention to them all? These are the forces --forces of love, mainly-- that tear at a young Leda, married, scholar, and mother of two. She can't pursue them all.
In other stories, the heroine would make one definitive choice, would give it all up for carreer, or for children, or for the love of a partner. Leda juggles them, as most real mothers would. She makes choices, she keeps pursuing some or other of her needs, of her jobs, at the expense of the rest. Her fullfilment is tinged with the guilt for the other parts of her life that do not get her atttention. "...you are paying attention.." somebody tells her, in a rare moment when she is free to immerse herself completely in the moment. And we see how splendid it would be if only Leda was allowed to truly pay attention to everything that matters to her.
In the movie, Leda is now 48, a professor of comparative literature, with two grown daughters. On a vacation, encountering a young mother, Nina, and witnessing the fraught way Nina is handling the tensions in her own life, Leda re-lives her own far from perfect choices. Her has had a career, she is in a possibly healthy relationships with her daughters, she is single, she is socially uneasy, like a foreigner. The "foreignness" with her compatriots contrasts with her ease and passion for translating poetry. (I wish the story will tell us what happened to her love for poetry and Italian translation. Is that still part of her life?) Thus, Leda has had a moderatly good life by her own standards. Yet just under the surface, the regrets and guilt for the times she turned away from her daughters continue to haunt her. Regrets for the choices consciously made, but also for unintentional hurts, like breaking a doll. The doll that passes from hand to hand, loved without demanding anything, or maybe satisfying a child without having to do anything, seems to be a symbol for the perpetual (idealized and yet organic) need for motherhood that flows through every woman from Leda's mother down to the little Elena.
But it's not the doll, abstract image of motherhood, that bonds mothers and daughters. It's the small special things like a floppy hat, an orange peel that looks like a snake, a snippet of Italian verse.
Interestingly, even now, Leda resents interruptions. The rowdy family, Lyle's attentions, are rebuked because they come at a time when Leda is immersed in something else. Much of her insociability stems from defending her need to live a life in her own head, to control where she gives her attention.
There are many things that confuse me -- along with other viewers. *Spoilers start here*. The ending seems tacked on. Are we to understand that the daughters have no resentment, no scars from losing their mother for three years? Are we to understand that this is just another of the juggling acts that Leda had to do all her life? Why is there no Italian poetry in the present? By this I mean did Leda's needs change with time? Are we seeing somebody who looks back to the imperfect ways she handled an impossible situation, or are we seeing somebody who now regrets having loved literature as much as she loved her children? There are echoes of Leda's mother but I'm not sure what to make of them. Young Leda despises her mother, yet she is attached to the doll. The mother raises Leda's daughters, and in the near final scene Leda is stabbed with a hat pin from her mother. Why? The setting is in Greece but everyone, absolutely everyone, is speaking English. You expect some language or cultural barrier, especially when the heroine is a translator, but no. Or you expect a foreigner to bring forward a new perspective. But no,again. This is very confusing. Why not set the story in Florida? Is Lyle another mirror image of Leda? Single, foreigner, playing a small part in the lives of his grown up children. Why "Leda"? Why the parallels to Death in Venice? They don't seem to mesh well with the other sides of the movie. They also seem a bit superficial. In DiV, the hero discovers a side of himself he had never acknowledged, evolves, then dies. Here, Leda does not discover anything about herself, it's only the viewers who do. And you believe that she might die, but she goes on living just as before. And who is the lost daughter? For the first part of the movie, perhaps influenced by Death in Venice, I thought Nina is somehow Leda's lost daughter, that the silent flow Leda-Nina will become an axis for the movie. But then, half way through the movie, the doll made its entrance and took over. So, my best guess is that there is no lost daughter, only lost mothers.
Back to the main point I take from "the lost daughter" is that human beings need more than one kind of love to feel complete. And having children is at the same time an incredibly big part of life's fortunes, and a relentless interruption from being fullfilled as a person. -
trolldaddy-8120610 November 2022The Lost Daughter is a powerful film addressing genre/style/concepts such as "deconstructing the patriarchy" and "mother's empowerment through freedom of choice." Perhaps that won't come as a surprise to most as M. Gyllenhaal is at the helm. These ideas in focus can be considered divisive, to say the least, but also fabulous concepts for a directorial debut as controversy keeps people engaged. And for that my hat is off to Maggie.
Leda has led quite the checkered past. She is selfish, bitter, vindictive and a generally unpleasant middle-aged woman to virtually all the other cast she comes in contact with in the film. She married youngish, and had two girls two years apart in age. Her husband is always away for work so her contempt for the role of mother is tested daily as her encouragable(as Leda sees it) daughters continuously disrupt her attempts to focus on her Italian literature dissertation. These memories are salt and peppered about in flashback form and, to little surprise, have taken severe mental and physical toll on Leda present.
The film's present sequences focus on Leda's misadventures with an ostentatious and particularly boorish family whom is sharing holiday space on one of the Grecian Island resorts. One of the family members, Nina (Dakota Johnson - who has incredibly redeemed her 50 Shades roles) has an equally seemingly encouragable daughter that is the catalyst for Leda's early motherhood flashbacks. Nina befriends Leda and confides in her struggle to raise her daughter within her close-knit riff-raff of a family.
In one of the flashback sequences, Leda chose to have a professional affair which led to her ultimate decision of abandoning her children to her husband who is beside himself. Leda later catches Nina (who's husband is equally as unavailable as Ledas) fooling with the resort 'pool boy' and thus the cycle of selfishness has transcended across mothers. Leda is led to assume Nina is looking for a way out of her motherly predicament.
For both Leda and Nina, the joys of motherhood would be just that, joyous. For the two they feel the work needed be put in rearing children does for Leda and will for Nina cause selfishness, infidelity and ultimately bitterness.
This film can be interpreted as both a criticism and inspiration for struggling mothers and the daily choices they are faced with. The tone is generally depressing, but there are hints of bliss; though all appear to be short-lived and ultimately, the price of freedom for action from a mother's choice will undoubedly extract a heavy toll.
The acting throughout is absolutely tip top. The plot and tone has some left to be desired. The soundtrack and cinematography is unremarkable. 6/10. -
alexvlarsen23 March 2023This film is made with such emotional intelligence and cinematic sensibility, it deserves all the praise it can get. It's not often you find films by American directors that are this daring when it comes to trusting the audience to piece together what's going on in the minds and hearts of the characters. And also what's going on plot-wise. I love the way Colman's character surprises herself with her own actions. It's a thrill to watch her stumble her way through encounters with other people and it's heartbreaking to find out what she's actually grappling with, which we learn more about as the story moves along. There's so much going on in this little gem of a film. If you can't see that - it wasn't for you, anyway.
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imseeg8 January 2022This story needs an introduction: A mother has abondoned her young children (decades ago), because she was depressed and as a young mother simply could not cope with the daily rut and responsibility of taking care of her own children.
Now we see that same mother (Olivia Colman) decades later, alone on a holiday. But while she is in this holiday beach resort, she gets aquainted with a young mother, who is battling with the same fatigue and depression of having to take care of young children.
That is all this movie is about. It's a very slowburning, subtle CHARACTER story.
The good: Terrific acting performance by Olivia Colman. The direction debut by actress Maggie Gylenhaal is quite decent, because she succeeds in painting a subtle, character portrait of this depressed and mentally disturbed mother, but the director fails in the most important part:
The bad: The reason I'll only award it with 6 stars, is because this movie lasted too long and there was little to no real drama. I got restless and somewhat bored half way through.
Missed opportunity to make a true drama. Such a pity...because this movie has got a lot going for it. Still worthwile a watch for the arthouse movie fans of the more subtle character movies. -
ferguson-617 December 2021Greetings again from the darkness. There are so many things that go unspoken about parenting, and first time writer-director Maggie Gyllenhaal specifically focuses her lens on the pressures of motherhood, by adapting the 2006 novel from the anonymous and talented and mysterious Italian writer Elena Ferrante. Of course, we are all aware of Ms. Gyllenhaal's fine work as an actor, yet it's almost beyond belief that this is her debut as a feature film director. The source material is strong, but Ms. Gyllenhaal, along with a terrific performance from Olivia Colman (Oscar winner, THE FAVOURITE, 2018), turn a coastline vacation into a mesmerizing psychological case study.
Ms. Colman proves yet again what a fine and versatile actor she is. Here she plays Leda, a divorced professor on solo holiday on a picturesque Greek island, staying in a refurbished lighthouse tended by longtime caretaker Lyle (Ed Harris). Leda is packing a satchel full of books and academia work, and is a bit perturbed when her isolated beach time is suddenly interrupted by a large and noisy family of vacationers from Queens. Being an observant loner, Leda eyes young mother Nina (Dakota Johnson) who is struggling with her daughter, as well as her husband and other family members. This triggers memories in Leda that are handled via flashbacks with a terrific Jessie Buckley (I'M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS, 2020) as young Leda, stressed out wife and mother to two daughters. She longs for her own space.
At face value, this appears to be a movie about a woman annoyed that she can't just enjoy a quiet holiday on the sandy beach as she reads her books. However, there are so many layers to the story and to Leda, that as viewers, we must remain on high alert to pick up all the queues and subtleties. Watching Nina with her daughter and husband sends Leda deep into her past ... a past that still haunts her to this day. At the same time, while gazing at Leda, Nina can't help but wonder if she is looking at her own future self.
Much of what we see (past and present) reinforces the isolation and frustration felt by so many mothers. It has nothing to do with loving one's kids, but rather maintaining one's sanity and self-being. There are a few key moments, including one that creates tension between Leda and the vacationing family, and another that immediately connects the two. Leda's past includes steps that would be considered taboo for any wife and mother, and the symmetry of her past and Nina's present are striking.
Peter Sarsgaard (director Gyllenhaal's real life husband) has a supporting role in the flashbacks, while Dagmara Dominczyk plays a critical role as Callie, part of Nina's large family. Bonus points are won with a Leonard Cohen reference (that may or may not be true), and also playing key roles here are a missing doll (connecting Leda's past and present) and the proper way to peel an orange. Cinematographer Helene Louvart works wonders balancing the beautiful setting with the not-always-beautiful actions of the characters. Especially potent here is the performance of Olivia Colman, who proves she can play most any role. It's also remarkable what first time director Maggie Gyllenhaal has accomplished here. This is a multi-layered, nuanced look at how relentless parenting can often feel overwhelming and may even lead to feelings of guilt later in life. It's rare to see such a raw look at the emotions behind what is often referred to as the joy of motherhood. The film leaves little doubt that the always-dependable actor Maggie Gyllenhaal is now one of the most interesting new filmmakers on the scene.
In select theaters on December 17, 2021 and on Netflix beginning December 31, 2021. -
3xHCCH1 January 2022British literature professor Leda Caruso (Olivia Colman) went to Greece on a summer holiday. While she was on the beach, she finds herself obsessively observing an attractive young woman Nina (Dakota Johnson) with her headstrong little daughter Elena (Athena Martin). This made her recall her younger self in her 20s (Jesse Buckley) raising her own two daughters Bianca and Martha (Robyn Elwell and Ellie Blake).
Colman's 48-year old Leda looked like a mild-mannered academic at first glance. However, this film slowly revealed that she carries heavy psychological baggage within her over the years. These painful issues mainly revolved around her tumultuous relationship with her daughters when they were little girls, triggered back to life by seeing the seductive Nina and her Elena. More disturbing details would further unravel as Elena's doll went missing.
It was fascinating to watch Colman and Buckley's consistent portrayals of Leda at two ages in her life. Colman's Leda displayed some testy behavior that did not seem to fit the usual profile of a respectable woman of her age and stature. It was only upon meeting Buckley's young Leda through flashbacks can we understand Colman's Leda's breakdown upon meeting Nina, seeing how they shared the same dilemmas when it came with their daughters and men.
True to her provocative name from Greek myth, Leda was a woman of passion. While Buckley's young Leda had a husband Joe (Jack Farthing), she was also drawn to the intellectual genius and masculine confidence of fellow professor Hardy (Peter Skarsgaard). On her vacation, Colman's middle-aged Leda can still attract her share of male admirers, like elderly villa manager Lyle (Ed Harris) and young working student Will (Paul Mescal).
This female-centric film had an all-female creative team behind it, with Maggie Gyllenhaal on her debut as feature film director and screenplay writer, adapting the novel of Italian writer Elena Ferrante. Gyllenhaal approached the drama with palpable suspense, with gorgeous images were captured by Helene Louvart. Colman, Buckley and Johnson all turn in excellent internally-complex performances of their flawed characters. -
The storytelling apparatus for "The Lost Daughter" is actually pretty simple: a present-day timeline is set up, and then supplemented by flashbacks that flesh out the backstory of the main character. In this specific case, however, I only found myself compelled by the flashbacks, and almost nothing happening in the main timeline. That's not a great formula for film success.
For a very basic overview, "The Lost Daughter" tells the story of Leda (Olivia Colman), a middle-aged professor on holiday at a beach resort. By sheer happenstance, she finds herself embroiled in a bit of drama involving young mother Nina (Dakota Johnson), who is having trouble with husband Tony (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) and overwhelmed by a daughter. This causes Leda to flash-back to her younger self (played by Jessie Buckley), when she struggled monumentally with her own children and trying to have an academic career.
Like I said, the main issue that garnered this film such a low rating from me was that I was never all that invested in older Leda's activities. Her rather odd comportment, seemingly petty squabbles with Nina's extended clan, and numerous shots of her wandering around the resort just didn't do anything for me. Seeing as how this comprises the majority of the movie, it meant extended stretches where my interest really waned.
The material in the flashbacks? That was actually pretty good, featuring some real issues like postpartum depression (of a sort), a woman trying to have a career with children, and infidelity. At times, Buckley stole the show for me. Again, though, due to their very nature those flashbacks represented a small-enough portion of the experience to not drive the entire flick.
Speaking of cast, I don't think that's the problem here. Besides those already mentioned, Ed Harris & Peter Sarsgaard also are in the fray. There's no lack of A-level talent, in other words. No--I think the predominant issue with "The Lost Daughter" was that the gulf between past and present story-wise was too large and too stark to be crossed successfully.
I can give the film four stars because it did have some interesting material it tried to examine, but overall it felt unfulfilling. After the last scene cut to close, my first thought was "all this way for that?!". Not a great sentiment to go out on. -
sonjali-412602 December 2022The movie is really thought provoking. Although I watched it a few weeks ago, I still think about it. The actors are very good. Especially Olivia Coleman and her younger counterpart do an amazing job. The story is not coherent, sometimes you think where does this go? ...but actually I liked this story telling style, because it is close to real life. These things happen, people behave in this way and there is not always a clear explanation given, you need to understand and find out by yourself. Overall a really good movie, recommend to watch it, especially if you have kids. I believe every parent could understand.
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lso-soares20 January 2022Maggie Gyllenhaal's directorial debut, starring Olivia Colman (Leda).
As soon as the book A Filha Perdida, by author Elena Ferrante, was published in Brazil, I bought a copy and read it all in one sitting. Reading is exciting. The film of the same name is an adaptation of that book.
This adaptation is signed by the director, Maggie Gyllenhaal. And it worked well, being faithful to the pages written by Ferrante.
Leda is a literature teacher who decides to spend her holidays alone on a Greek beach. There, she will meet a noisy family, whose interaction will be full of ups and downs. In the family is Nina (Dakota Johnson), whose young daughter, Elena, is grabbed with a doll. One day, Elena disappears from the family, which causes confusion, and it is Leda who finds her. In this reel, Elena's doll also disappears. The trigger for Leda was set, when she will remember her early years of marriage, with two young daughters, a beautiful career as a translator ahead of her, motherhood, the need to be free, escape, regret.
It is an intimate, observational film, both of Leda towards her noisy family and of Nina towards Leda. Leda sees her past in Nina and Nina sees her future in Leda. In a dialogue with Leda, she said that she wanted to be like her when she reached her age.
For being intimate, there are many scenes of mere contemplation, with wide shots of the scenarios.
It also leads us to reflect on topics that are sensitive to women, such as, for example, the issue of motherhood. Is it an inherent role for a woman to be a mother? This is Leda's main anguish with her 48 years old.
When I finished watching the film, I concluded that there could be no other actress than Olivia Colman to play Leda. How sensational her performance is, her way of showing her feelings with only minimal expressions on her face. Great.
As for Gyllenhaal's direction, it's firm, but it didn't bring innovation, preferring to stay in the conventional so as not to make mistakes. -
It is hard to stop watching this movie but I am not sure I can say I liked it. It caught my attention because of the stellar critic reviews and the setting, Greece. The film is well done. It is well acted. Olivia Colman, Dakota Johnson, and Ed Harris, among others are very engaging was the story of a deeply troubled woman on summer holiday in Greece unfolds. This is not a big, over the top movie, but it is not simple. Colman, is by definition, an unreliable narrator. While we learn a lot about her past and her troubles we have great difficultly understanding what is truth and what is illusion-I think the line is blurred. We also have a great difficulty understanding why Colman is the way she is, and maybe that isn't relevant to the story; however, I felt myself desiring to know more about what she was feeling and thinking. Perhaps reading the source material would enlighten me. Perhaps it would not. Regardless, the movie's performances and direction moved me but, in the end, I felt unsatisfied.
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When this film ended, I was left wondering what it was exactly that I just watched and felt like I was trying to find a deeper meaning within the film that I'm not even sure is really even there. Throughout the entire film, I was waiting for something to happen that would tie certain scenes together to make the story line more cohesive and make more sense and provide some sense of closure in regard to the plot and the actions of the main character. But at the end of the film, there I was... still waiting. There were scenes that were completely irrelevant to the story (for example, the scene with the hikers). I kept waiting for that scene to become relevant later in the film, but it never did. It was just "filler," I guess. As far as the acting goes, it was fine, as was the directing. I think the main failure of this film is the plot in general. Basically, it tries to build up a lot of intrigue (and does a decent job at that) but then in the end, you're still left struggling to find meaning and relevance and make connections that don't exist. And because of that, the film comes off as a bit pretentious due to its failed attempt to explore the main character's complex psychological state but even in that, it barely skims the surface.
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khalidmoubile25 February 2022During her vacation Leda witnessed an incident that that remembered her of her darkest moments as a mother .
It was a bit slow for me, not a lot of things happening, but it worth your time of course.
It shows how the motherhood can be one of the most beautiful and hard experiences at the same time in a woman's life.
The film's structure is remarkable especially the way they presented the present and the previous time back and forth .
What made me watch this movie while I'm late I guess is what I heard about performances, the beautiful Olivia Colman was fascinating, for Jessi Buckley I had a problem with the character itself and it's instability, but her acting was at it's finest.
Two Oscar worthy nomination for these two, playing the role of the same character in different periods of time.
Some good performances from Dakota Johnson and Ed Harris that I always appreciate his presence.
Finally, I want to say that Maggie Gyllenhaal offered us a beautiful pure drama so her Oscar nomination is deserved I suppose.
" I'm an Unnatural mother". -
mattias_fr3 October 2022I would have probably rated this film a bit lower since it is kind of slow and boring at times, but the amazing Olivia Colman is electrifying...as always. It has been pretty lonely for Dame Judi Dench in that vacuum between Merryl Streep and all the other talented actresses of the world , but now she is joined by Colman. What a talent she possesses! I do have to say the acting in the film is really good overall. And the film does leave you with some important questions like we it is more stigmatised for a mother to leave than for a father. The film is clearly worth your time even though a bit on the slow side.
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kosmasp6 January 2022Maggie Gyllenhall - an actress who as many before her now went behind the camera. Her directorial debut is quite the heavyweight and a movie that will divide those who watch it. On so many levels this was not an easy one to take on and I think she chose this project because of this and not despite of it.
Having said, we have a main character who many viewers will have issues identifying with ... or even have feelings for. Olivia Coleman is superb in that role. As are all the other actors in it. Ed Harris (so good to see him) and also our 50 Shades of Grey love interest - who is able to act, in case you were not aware of that.
This being set in Greece is especially interesting considering the coldness of our main character. It is quite the stark and big contrast to what surrounds her. Early on we are able to see that and that she is quite the odd one out. Don't hold it against her - actually you may even be with her. Feel for her and her situation she finds herself in.
But her not giving a position up for a family ... well that may not go down well with a lot of viewers. But this is not a likeability contest. This is not about how much you should like her - no it is about slowly revealing why and how she became the person she is now.
It is tough to fully understand her actions and really emphatize with her decisions ... but this is where you have to suspend your disbelief a little bit at least. A movie not for the masses ... but I didn't figure Maggie out to do something like that anyway ... only thing that surprised me was a Netflix survey that I got the other day that suggested this might get follow ups/sequels or whatever ... I don't think it's needed to be frank, but what do I know? -
monberger1 January 2022Didn't do it for me! I must say outstanding performances from Colman and Buckley, no doubt about deserving Oscar nominations. The story builds slowly into something that goes puff!!! Disappointing! The two girls were super annoying, and the thought of The little girl not getting over the lost of her doll for days, come on! Anyway, Also, the punks (teenagers) miss behaving in public places and using horrible language that was not believable either, and I'm not saying that doesn't happen but it feels manipulated pretentiously done. The best part of the movie is Ed Harris dance, it was great!
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lee_eisenberg20 March 2023I learned of Olivia Colman when she played Queen Anne in "The Favorite" (and won an Oscar for the role). I later saw her on "Broadchurch", as well as seasons three and four of "The Crown". She also provided one of the voices in "The Mitchells vs. The Machines".
But now we have Ms. Colman in an intense role. She plays a woman on vacation in Greece whose stay is overshadowed by memories of the daughters whom she abandoned. "The Lost Daughter" both casts doubt on the supposed happiness of family life, and the presumed pleasantness of tourism, with the protagonist's mental state deteriorating as the movie progresses. Jessie Buckley as the protagonist's younger self is equally intense, almost as much as her character in "I'm Thinking of Ending Things".
Maggie Gyllenhaal's directorial debut is a fine one. I wouldn't call it a masterpiece - and it certainly won't be for everyone - but it's not a movie that you're likely to forget any time soon. Both Colman and Buckley received Academy Award nominations for their roles, with excellent support coming from Ed Harris, Dakota Johnson, Dagmara Dominczyk (Karolina on "Succession"), Paul Mescal and Peter Sarsgaard. -
Mehki_Girl16 March 2022A movie with beautiful visuals, not particularly likeable characters and you wonder what's the point and what the heck is going on.
But it sticks with you and maybe you watch it again and then you get it and think, what wonderful movie-making and acting.
As an older woman and someone who looks back and doesn't think she was that great a parent, but knows she was doing the best she knew how, I have another perspective today may be different than younger viewers.
She's that frumpy, single middle-aged lady that people see (or look threw; don't see), thinking, oh she's a sweet, harmless spinster and never seeing the young woman she was. That she had been a sexy, horny young woman who was saddled with demanding kids and demanding husband and demanding careers. Someone who wanted just a little piece of life for herself. But you really can't have it all can you? No, not really. Especially women.
So Nina is her. Nina who loves her daughter (but maybe not so much the dangerous and demanding smothering would "slit my throat" if he knew husband. She, too, wants to grab a moment, of life for herself.
It's an odd tale and the protagonist is an odd and prickly duck. It's a tale told in an odd way, to be sure.
There's a lot of suspense in this movie and you think at any moment when she's alone walking on the dark streets that something will happen to her.
Was anything resolved? -
tm-sheehan31 December 2021My Review - The Lost Daughter Netflix
My Rating 5/10 As readers of this page know I'm a great advocate for Women Directors also a great fan of Maggie Gyllenhaal and Olivia Coleman but this film directorial debut from Maggie Gyllenhaal left me totally unimpressed.
I kept thinking would I have liked it more on a Cinema screen instead of a television screen and at the conclusion I had decided no I just didn't get it.
The film has been highly praised by some critics especially for Maggie Gyllenhaal 'S directing and Screenplay writing.
Olivia Coleman's performance as Leda is certainly a consideration for an Oscar nomination next year.
The Lost Daughter is about a woman Leda Caruso who while on a summer holiday, finds herself becoming obsessed with another woman and her daughter on the beach . Their interactions provoke memories of her own early motherhood to come back and unravel her holiday bliss.
The two women who portray Leda are Olivia Colman as Leda Caruso on holiday on the Italian Coast and Jessie Buckley as young the Leda Caruso in flashback . Both actresses give impressive performances but both characters annoyed me and I just lost interest in them and their story.
Dakota Jackson is impressive as the young mother Nina who Leda notices on the resort beach with her daughter and obviously sees a mirror image of her life experiences through their interactions which disturb her and are reflected in this 2 hour movie.
The two men in this film Ed Harris as Lyle a resort employee and young Will played by Paul Mescal are interesting characters that never really develop . This film I truly fits a genre description I usually never refer to as " A Woman's Picture " that's certainly not an insult but it's a Woman's Picture that didn't entertain me or move me at all.
Why that happened I can't say as it would contain spoilers I'll just say in my opinion both Leda's were two unlikeable characters that I had no empathy with at all.
Mature Leda obviously guilt ridden and depressed about her life choices involving her daughters and young Leda headstrong and following her desires rather than her responsibilities.
I won't spend more effort on this review as the film just failed to impress me I know it will appeal to some movie goers but apart from the good performances by the cast the story just didn't move me and the Direction by Maggie Gyllenhaal makes me hope that she won't give up acting. -
masonfisk23 February 2023Another Oscar nominated film, a Netflix original, starring Oscar winner Olivia Colman (nominated here) & written/directed by actress Maggie Gyllenhaal (nominated for her screenplay adaptation). When a classic literature translator goes to a Grecian locale to unwind, the placid environment doesn't give her the tranquility she relishes (a bunch of expat American party-goers bring noise & unnecessary drama) but instead it becomes an extended self-exploration of her soul. At first Colman succeeds in keeping to herself but when rowdy tourists arrive, her attention drifts to a young mother & her child, played by Dakota Johnson, culminating in the child's disappearance which Colman miraculously finds in an adjoining location. Getting temporary praise for her help soon dwindles when the daughter's doll goes missing (which Colman has secreted back to her room). The entire episode soon grants the audience entry to flashbacks of Colman dealing w/her young daughters years before (Oscar nominee Jessie Buckley now plays her) as her life/work balance were off kilter making her relationship w/her charges fractious & prompting a extramarital affair w/a noted college professor, played by Peter Sarsgaard (Gyllenhaal's man in real life). What soon follows is an examination of how she got here from there as the audience wonders (w/great thriller aplomb) where the story will take us making the title a bit of a cinematic Mulligan's Stew (who indeed is the lost daughter?). Colman works wonders in her mostly nonverbal performance w/Buckley perfectly complementing her older self as the constant demands of career & family sometimes don't co-exist. Also starring Oliver Jackson-Cohen (last seen in Netflix's The Haunting of Bly Manor) playing Johnson's hubby, Ed Harris (welcome back!) as Colman's room caretaker & Dagmara Dominczyk (Patrick Wilson's significant other) as another of the noisy vacationing revelers.
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gallagherkellie7 January 2022Even though the movie was a bit slow, it didn't feel boring at all for me. I kept waiting for something big to happen and even though it didn't, I was still enjoying it the whole time. So hard to explain! I Olivia is such a great actress. A few small confusing things that I wanted to know more about, but all in all it was enjoyable.
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LordCommandar2 January 2022Flashbacks of coping as a young mother and infidelity, present moments of dullness on a beach in Greece, two little girls being brats on screen and a stupid doll. This film was long, drawn out and boring as hell. Nothing but a cup of sleepytime tea and quite possibly another remedy for insomnia.