The Lost Daughter, Review: On a Terrible Vacation with Olivia Colman in This Trembling Intimate Drama

• 15 cert, 122 min. Directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal

One of the richest and most diverse directions of cinema in the golden age of Hollywood was the female image: women-centered films, often placed on the threshold of melodrama and noir, whose heroines defied the socially permissible boundaries of their gender. The genre is in the late sixties with the rise of Women’s Lib – but Maggie GyllenhaalHis directorial debut is an unmistakable modern incarnation.

Thoughtfully adapted from the 2006 novel by Italian writer Elena Ferrante, it is a charmingly guaranteed drama of weakened lust and smoldering threats with a trio of exceptional performances. Olivia Colman, Jessie Buckley in Dakota Johnson. It is a film about motherhood, which boldly explores its most unspoken aspects: resentment, gnawing regret over long-gone mistakes, loving cherished fantasies without children and dreams of untapped professional and romantic paths. I wouldn’t dare hint at what the viewers would actually get out of it, though I can tell you that this male laughed, was moved, and writhed in sympathy all the time while his conscience burned as if he were being hugged by a hedgehog.

Colman as Lede Caruso, a literary translator who embarks on a solo journey to a quiet part of the coast of Greece, where he can relax, enjoy the sun and immerse himself in his work. But the resort turns out to be less peaceful than we expected. One morning, a large and agitated family group rushes ashore and commands it. Leda’s disgust is obvious – Colman plays a great moment and Leda’s completely legitimate dissatisfaction is enlivened by the highest note of snobbery, as this rude clan plays music and chats obscenities at the top of their lungs.

Heavily pregnant Callie (Dagmara Dominczyk of Succession) suddenly asks Ledo to move her lounger to give them more space; Leda politely but firmly refuses and you feel yourself getting ready for a bloodbath. But what follows is undoubtedly worse: in the eyes of this unpleasant family, Leda becomes “that woman” and the air tension drops. Later, as he returns to his villa along the forest path, he hears a rustle in the branches and is suddenly struck by something between the blades – probably a pine cone. But did it fall or was it thrown?

The morning brings an opportunity for reconciliation. One of the family members, a beautiful, mysterious young woman named Nina (Dakota Johnson), suddenly finds out that her young daughter Elena has left the group. Leda joins the search, finding her in a nearby bay and returning her to her desperate relatives. But in a move as seemingly irresponsible as Meursault’s murder of an Arab in Camus’s L’Etranger, he also steals the girl he loves and smuggles her back to his villa in his beach bag. A missing toy causes almost as much excitement as a missing child: wanted posters rise around the city and you start to fear for Leda’s safety.