4 minute read
“The Lost Daughter”
MAIN CAST:Jessie Buckley, Olivia Colman, Dagmara Domińczyk, Jack Farthing, Ed Harris, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Dakota Johnson, Paul Mescal, Peter Sarsgaard CASTING BY:Kahleen Crawford DIRECTED BY: Maggie Gyllenhaal WRITTEN BY:Maggie Gyllenhaal (based on the novel by Elena Ferrante) DISTRIBUTED BY: Netflix
ON THE SURFACE, MAGGIE GYLLENHAAL’S
directorial debut “The Lost Daughter” follows an English literature professor, Leda (Olivia Colman), on a beach vacation in Greece, remembering the complicated decisions she made as a young mother. What brings up those memories are the relationships she develops on the island: a tentative friendship with a young mother, Nina (Dakota Johnson), and a thornier one with Nina’s extended family (Dagmara Domińczyk and Oliver Jackson-Cohen among them). Gyllenhaal peppers in flashbacks of Leda’s memories, with Jessie Buckley playing a younger version of the character. Jack Farthing plays her husband, and Peter Sarsgaard (Gyllenhaal’s real-life spouse) portrays an older colleague whom Leda becomes enamored with.
It’s within this web of relationships—some frisky, some prickly—that the actors find their material. They have to work doubly hard because the text from Elena Ferrante does not specify much. It’s their interpretations that convey what’s simmering below the polite but pointed conversations.
Take Leda and Callie (Domińczyk). Their relationship starts with a confrontation about space on the beach, followed by a truce; but the underlying mistrust remains. Both actors convey outward niceness and inward hostility, and it’s amusing to watch them passive-aggressively squabble.
Leda first observes Nina from afar, watching as she parents her easily upset daughter—which surfaces memories of her own confounding experience as a mother. Johnson is the object of desire here; the camera lingers on her just like Leda’s gaze does. The actor is entirely comfortable onscreen, welcoming the camera’s probing. There’s a disarming effortlessness to her presence that is not easily cultivated; some actors just have it.
Colman reveals another side of Leda when she flirts with the custodian of her apartment building (Ed Harris), as well as a server at the beach (Paul Mescal). Colman is relaxed, funny, and utterly unguarded in these scenes. Harris navigates the tricky balance of playing a man who still has the charm to seduce, if not the stamina. Mescal, on the other hand, has appeal to spare, but Leda disarms him. There’s an innocence and joy to these scenes, and the actors obviously enjoy sparring with each other. Yet these relationships become complicated, and Colman, Harris, and Mescal keep surprising the audience with unexpected shades to their performances.
In flashbacks, Buckley contends with conflicting situations: the confusing exhaustion of young parenthood with Farthing, and the erotic charge of the new and forbidden with Sarsgaard. Although they don’t share any screen time, her performance must also act in concert with Colman’s. Buckley convinces us that she will grow up to be present-day Leda, and it’s perceptive, generous work.
What holds all these performances together is Colman at the center. In “The Lost Daughter,” the SAG, Emmy, and Oscar winner shows off new facets of her screen personality. She dares to be unsympathetic and off-putting while also conveying an underlying compassion for Leda’s choices. Some of them are bewildering, some understandable, and others downright abhorrent. But through it all, the audience never loses its connection with Colman.
The characters’ murky, complicated relationships with each other lead to wondrous moments for the actors onscreen, putting them in the running for best ensemble of the
year. —MURTADA ELFADL
OLIVIA COLMAN
“A NEW GOLD STANDARD FOR ENSEMBLE ACTING.
A TRIUMPH IN EVERY SENSE OF THE WORD.”
PETER TRAVERS,
Benedict Cumberbatch is unforgettable and astounding.”
WINNER - BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH
Best Actor Philadelphia Film Critics Circle • Phoenix Film Critics Society Atlanta Film Critics Circle • Boston Online Film Critics Association • New York Film Critics Circle New York Film Critics Online • Southeastern Film Critics Association
NOTHING SHORT OF EXTRAORDINARY.
Kirsten Dunst is magnificent.”
WINNER - KIRSTEN DUNST
Best Supporting Actress Altanta Film Critics Circle Boston Online Film Critics Association Southeastern Film Critics Association
WINNER - JANE CAMPION
Best Director Venice Film Festival • Philadelphia Film Critics Circle Atlanta Film Critics Circle • Boston Online Film Critics Association • New York Film Critics Circle New York Film Critics Online • Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Southeastern Film Critics Association
WINNER - JANE CAMPION
Best Adapted Screenplay Phoenix Film Critics Society • Philadelphia Film Critics Circle Boston Online Film Critics Association • Detroit Film Critics Society • Las Vegas Film Critics Society New York Film Critics Online • Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Southeastern Film Critics Association
Kodi Smit-McPhee is remarkable.”
WINNER - KODI SMIT-MCPHEE
Best Supporting Actor Philadelphia Film Critics Circle • Boston Online Film Critics Association • New York Film Critics Circle New York Film Critics Online • Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Southeastern Film Critics Association
A transfixing performance from Jesse Plemons. ”
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