Review: 'The Lost Daughter' an Impressive Directorial Debut

Maggie Gyllenhaal makes an impressive directorial debut with her co-adaption of Elena Ferrante's novel "The Lost Daughter." Olivia Colman stars as literature professor Leda, who is taking a solo holiday at a seedy Greek seaside resort.

Landlord Lyle (Ed Harris) settles Leda into her decaying vacation quarters, surrounded by rotting fruit and encroaching locusts, which foreshadows her internal entropy. He remarks that the apartment almost feels like a boat, and divorced, middle-aged Leda is certainly adrift. She just wants to read and write by herself at the beach, but young mother Nina (Dakota Johnson), her clingy young daughter, and her big, bossy (and apparently connected) Italian family intrude on the solitude.

Gyllenhaal's tight, shaky, and intense camera angles echo Leda's turmoil. Neither the camera and the character can contain the cascading intimacy of emotions leaking from both her present and past. Scenes with young Leda (a nuanced Jessie Buckley) are interspersed throughout, recollecting the difficulties parenting her own two daughters as she tries to juggle career satisfaction and her strained marriage. In fact, life milestones are recurrent touchstones in the film, as everybody's age is frequently asked upon meeting, underscoring the expectations that family and job accomplishments should be regularly measured and compared with others.

Older Leda advises Nina and her nosy aunt Callie (Dagmara Dominczyk) that "children are a crushing responsibility," which becomes the realistic refrain for all parents and kids visiting this small village. Nobody delivers fierce introspection as well or in as riveting a way as Colman. She imbues Leda with a virulent voyeurism and raw self-examination that makes the difficult revelations accessible and relatable.

"The Lost Daughter" is streaming now on Netflix – view a trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNq9YOfL0Zs