The Lost Daughter
NETFLIXA stacked cast for The Lost Daughter proves a level of confidence in actor-turned-director Maggie Gyllenhaal’s first feature outing behind the camera. Her seaside dramatics rely heavily on Olivia Colman and provide the awards winning actor with another foot up the unending ladder. A chance to hold her own as a dramatic performer in the big leagues proves exciting and interesting for The Lost Daughter, a Netflix original that relies as much on its cast as it does on the exciting opportunity presented to a director in waiting. The Lost Daughter is a soulful film demonstrating a holiday gone horribly wrong. But that is what Gyllenhaal gets excitingly right, and muses on it well throughout her directorial debut.
Within The Lost Daughter, there are great strides made to craft an introspective feature that wants to look back on itself and events audiences are not shown. Gyllenhaal experiments with that tone nicely, with extreme close-ups used often. The effect is meant to showcase a literal closeness to characters as yet unexplored in the early moments, but as the film continues, they feel out of place and ineffective. They are too frequently utilised to have any power behind them. A cast packed to the brim with great supporting performers is slow to utilise such talent. Ed Harris feels woefully thespian while Paul Mescal attempts to recapture the awkward charms of his Normal People performance. Colman is the clear winner, but even her performance as Leda, a professor on a seaside break, is lacking at times.
But it is hard to hate such a confident performance. Colman and Gyllenhaal are in line with one another. Their tone and style are established well and those early seeds of something amiss are planted in plain sight. Clarity prevails. Obsession and regret all form together in an understandable and, at times, relatable period of shame and self-reproach. Colman handles that severity well and the shift in tone that follows is presented with enough tact to provide The Lost Daughter with well-conjured emotions and a well-established atmosphere. Even lust is given an outing, but that is for the audience to decide as the camera lingers, as it does often throughout The Lost Daughter.
The rise and rise of Olivia Colman continues. The Lost Daughter may not be particularly exhilarating but it does provide another exceptional merit to a career on the up and up. Gyllenhaal successfully breaks the link between actor and director. Her form behind the camera is far different to that of her on-camera roles. There is a clear desire from Colman’s performance, which shows an exceptional level of range and provides that longing desire and jealousy so well. The Lost Daughter presents its emotive range well. What it lacks in consistency, it more than makes up for in experimentation. Gyllenhaal is ambitious and keen to showcase the skills that will mark her future visions behind the camera. She does not knock her debut out of the park but lights a level of satisfaction that has escaped many others on their first outing behind the camera.