Maggie Gyllenhaal clearly had something she wanted to get off her chest about motherhood, and it appears she found the perfect vehicle with which to deliver those messages.
Her feature directorial debut, "The Lost Daughter," premieres Friday on Netflix. It's brimming with commentary about what motherhood truly looks like in practice and how no two experiences are created equally. It's clear Gyllenhaal connected with the 2006 Elena Ferrante novel on which this film is based, because her script and direction for the movie adaptation display a level of care and thoughtfulness only achieved through real love for the source material.
The film is centered around Olivia Colman's Leda and her idyllic beach vacation that gets interrupted by a loud and brash group of American tourists. She develops an odd fascination with Nina (Dakota Johnson) and her young daughter, whose very presence inspires Leda to contemplate her own experiences as a mother.
Leda's story is divided between the present day and a time period when her children were still quite young. In those scenes, she is played by Jessie Buckley and splits her time between acting as a dutiful mother while plainly showing signs that there are other things in life she would rather be doing than taking care of two daughters.
This isn't the kind of movie where characters feel the need to explain their behavior, particularly a few decisions by both younger and older Leda that don't really seem to be motivated by much more than spontaneous whims. That might understandably frustrate some viewers, but it's true to life in the sense that, well, that's just how it goes sometimes. It's a deliberate and consistent choice that works in totality, even if it can be a tad confounding in the moment.
There are few more gorgeous settings for a movie than the beaches of Spetses, Greece, where "The Lost Daughter" was filmed. Gyllenhaal, with cinematographer Helene Louvart, certainly knows how to capture sun-kissed water and the charms of small island communities on camera. A lot of her direction, though, is centered less on beautiful vistas and squarely on the characters, who are almost always in some state of existential contemplation.
That goes especially for the flashback sequences in which young Leda is often seen at her wits' end due to the many demands of motherhood. The older version of the character eventually illuminates exactly what she did wrong and why she has no regrets about how things played out. Watching her youthful self constantly searching for ways out of her situation is difficult to stomach but expertly woven through the overall narrative.
We seem to have reached the point in which just about anything Olivia Colman touches turns to gold. She's reliably compelling as a woman who always seems to be on the edge of some sort of breakdown, whether her children are involved or not. Colman brings enough humor to the film's lighter scenes to balance out the times Leda finds herself embroiled in fraught confrontations that require more wherewithal than Leda sometimes seems capable of harnessing.
Dakota Johnson may have given her best performance ever as Nina, another mother obviously unsatisfied with her lot in life. Nina mostly seems more pleasant than the rest of her brood, but that cheery demeanor is a front for crippling uncertainty and a penchant for lashing out with only minimal provocation. She and Colman create a fascinating dynamic where Leda sees herself in Nina while the younger woman gains a false impression of who Leda is.
It's unfortunate that the constraints of the story mean Buckley is never able to interact with Colman or Johnson, but every scene she appears in is crackling with possibility thanks to what a wild card the young Leda is. Buckley is a gifted actor who displays no fear in showing the darker inclinations that spring from motherhood, while also never making the audience question her tangible affection for her kids.
Shout-outs are also in order for Peter Sarsgaard as a blowhard professor, Paul Mescal as an enigmatic resort worker, Ed Harris as someone Leda forges a begrudging bond with Dagmara Dominczyk as a prickly, pregnant American who become suspicious of Leda's intentions with her family. Bolstering your cast with a murderer's row of talented character actors is always a smart choice, and they all do great supporting work here.
"The Lost Daughter" isn't exactly an easy watch, but it's paced briskly enough that bouts of momentary boredom are generally punctuated quickly with something worth paying attention to. Credit Gyllenhaal with penning a script that ensured the action on screen never gets too dour during the film's approximately two-hour runtime.
In a film landscape that mostly consists of superhero movies and other broad attempts at audience appeal, it's a welcome change of pace to sit down with an adult drama containing confident direction from a first-time talent like Gyllenhaal and three strong performances that could all easily garner awards consideration.
Kudos to "The Lost Daughter" for closing 2021 out with one last thought-provoking, immaculately crafted piece of cinema.
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'THE LOST DAUGHTER'
3.5 stars (out of 4)
MPAA rating: R (for language and partial nudity)
Running time: 2:01
Where to watch: Now playing in theaters and streaming Friday on Netflix
