Netflix’s The Lost Daughter – A Solid Character Piece (Early Review)

Time to end the year with a bang but not literally though. The Lost Daughter may drop on the last day of the year on Netflix and as with many of their presumed award contenders, it has been given a short theatrical run starting very soon after making the festival circuit this past fall. Serving as the feature directorial debut of actress Maggie Gyllenhaal, she certainly shows some vision behind the camera while adapting the book of the same name by Elena Ferrante. Rounding out this beautiful Greek escapist character study is a trio of stellar performances from Olivia Colman, Jessie Buckley, and Dakota Johnson. However for some, the film’s pace may be too slow as it unravels its winding narrative in a way that will not quite be satisfying enough due to some shallow characters, leaving plenty of potential laying beneath the surface. In the end, Gyllenhaal’s vision for the most part as well as those three aforementioned performances definitely made the most out of what was there and will more than entertain fans of Colman, Buckley, and Johnson but the film is sure to leave some wanting more.

The Lost Daughter tells the story of a woman named Leda (Colman) who embarks on a vacation in a seaside Greek town and becomes obsessed with another woman named Lena (Johnson) and her daughter Elena (Athena Martin Anderson) who are also on vacation with their extended family. Watching their relationship play out reminded her of her own relationship with her own children as the film weaved in flashbacks of a younger Leda (Buckley) faced with the overwhelming frustration of her early motherhood while taking care of two young daughters. Hinting at a troubled past between, the more obsessed she became with Leda, the circumstances that led to that troubled past. That tragic cloud loomed large over the story but both these timelines didn’t go far enough in terms of a connection primarily due to how long it took for the film to make any attempt at one.

That being said, each of these timelines had their compelling moments be it connecting to the younger Leda’s struggles parenting though there were other circumstances that led to those struggles or the arc of the older Leda’s obsession with Lena and her family. It was clear that her obsession was rooted in something from her past but the story remained frustratingly slow about it. Nevertheless, one can easily draw parallels as Leda seemed to be looking in a mirror while looking at Lena and Elena in a way that left her yearning for something she was missing. Whatever that truth was, it simmered below the surface as that drama was compelling to watch. The Lena part of the equation was nowhere near as interesting as she essentially was nothing more than that mirror for Leda, echoing her young motherhood. Seeing herself in Lena led to that connection which was still a strong one. However, the film did not offer nearly enough of it.

As mentioned, The Lost Daughter was a beautiful film, boasting beautiful shots of the Greek countryside. The camera work did stray albeit slightly at times beyond the many vistas though the perspective work help heightened the dynamic between Leda and Lena with the former almost stalking the latter. At the end of the day, the best part of the film was the aforementioned stellar performances of Colman, Buckley, and Johnson as the older and younger Leda and Lena respectively. Colman of course led the way as the older Leda, a woman who was clearly in pain and consumed with grief and regret but the way she went about it may rub some people the wrong way as her repressed feelings slowly kept trickling back up to the surface. Buckley’s charisma and relatability made for a believable fragile mother on the brink that the film arguably gave up on. Johnson had her moments in spite of Lena being thin as a character.

Overall, The Lost Daughter is a solid character piece boosted by some great acting. While it didn’t all work, Maggie Gyllenhaal has promise as a director.

still courtesy of Netflix

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.