THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
No one really understands the pressure that is ensued in motherhood.
PLOT
Based on the Elena Ferrante novel of the same name, The Lost Daughter follows middle aged college professor Leda Caruso take a holiday in Greece. During her vacation, she meets a younger woman named Nina and her daughter Elena (Athena Martin Anderson), who are on holiday with her in law family. At one point, the little girl goes missing and Elena is find and return her to her mother. The little one refuses to calm down when favorite doll goes missing. When Leda notices Nina being exhausted, it has her remember her time of motherhood. As flashbacks show, she was very impatient with her own daughters, Martha & Bianca, becoming withdrawn from them in the process. Leda actually took the doll and is keeping it secret. When she has dinner with the caretaker Lyle (Ed Harris) one evening, he sees it and chooses not to comment about it, nor does he tell Nina despite her family posting flyers all over the villa. She does get to speak with Nina and discover that she is cheating on her controlling husband Toni (Oliver Jackson Cohen) with the beach bar employee Will (Paul Mescal). She admits that she abandoned her kids with their father Joe (Jack Farthing) for three years after feeling too overwhelmed to handle them. She briefly dated a fellow profesor named Hardy (Peter Sarsgard) and despite enjoying being away from them, she chose to return to her family when she genuinely missed them. Nina does tell her she knows that she knows of her and Will, agreeing to keep it between them. After dancing at a bar with Lyle one night, Will asks her if she can borrow her apartment to have sex, in which she chooses to agree. The next day, Nina arrives to pick up the keys, but Leda admits that she was selfish for what she did and admits that the feeling of depression won't go away. She then returns the doll, admitting to have stolen it, claiming she was playing. Upset, Nina stabs her with a hatpin and leaves with the doll. Rather than going to the hospital and get her wounded treated, she chooses to leave the resort. She ends up driving off the road due to the pain from her wound, resulting in her to also stumble down the road and collapse on the shoreline. The next morning, she gets a call from her daughters, who are relieved to hear from her as they haven't heard from her in a few days. The film ends with Leda telling them she is fine while peeling a nearby orange the way she taught them.
THOUGHTS
Netflix is really getting better with the films they're making and this film is no exception. This one caught me off guard because Writer/Director Maggie Gyllenhaal delivers an insane examination of resolve and guilt. It can be unnerving to get through because it displays the feelings one would get when it comes to having desire to live on one's terms but has to live for someone else. Every second you get through, you become more absorbed with what's happening. The main reason that this film pays off in the long run is through the dual performance that Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley share in the role of Leda, earning each of them an Oscar nomination for their acting. Seeing the impatience that Buckley reveals as the younger Leda shows viewers that motherhood isn't for everyone, which is tragic because you can assume everyone can handle being a parent until you see they can't. Seeing the joy she had when away from her kids showed that she was indeed unnatural as her older self admits. Since she still tried to show affection after all the stress she went through, it shows that she had them at the wrong time. When Hardy noticed how selfish she was, it was her awakening to appreciate her family, which motivated her to return. Colman reflects the older Leda as one who lives off of that regret that she didn't appreciate the family she made and her time in Greece puts her in a spiral where she wishes she had a better chance. While I still question how she got away with stealing the doll and it may look like she doesn't know why she even did it. In reality though, I think she did it because it symbolizes how she wants to protect her childhood and want Nina to need her in a motherly way. She is powerless as shown during her theater conflict and she wants to regain whatever power she had before she ever had her kids. Because I never read the book, I am certain that she'll recover from her injury and continue appreciating them both, despite making unwise decisions during her eventful vacation. Seeing her peel the orange helped her remember that there were good times raising them and she'll continue making more whenever she sees them again. The only character that got my attention was Nina because Dakota Johnson portrays her as the new Leda, who is going through the lead's shoes of motherhood. Because she is taking care of her on her own as the father is mostly absent due to work, she is getting stressed out and is slowly expressing her impatience. The difference between her and Leda however is that she is trying harder to appreciate what is her greatest creation. It's not smart to cheat on her husband, but at least she's not abandoning her kid. Whatever stress that comes her way, she'll confront it head on and figure out how to deal with it in a way that won't affect her daughter. I don't condone her stabbing Leda, but I understand that she was afraid of her for what she did, as it is possible to identify her as a stalker for that one decision. Encountering Leda alone only further more awakens her to appreciate Elena and find the goodness in being her mother. In conclusion, The Lost Daughter is a daring film for pushing the right boundaries and makes a great conversation of motherhood. If you have Netflix and need to see things in a new lens, this’ll do the trick.
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