Review of The Lost Daughter (2021) by Bertobellamy — 02 Jan 2022

Maggie Gyllenhaal's directorial debut is remarkable.

This story, about a woman who begins to recall her early memories as a mother after interacting with a younger one and her daughter, asks a question society tries to evade almost all the time: is it wrong to give up as a mother?

'The Lost Daughter,' based on the novel of the same name — which now I'm very interested in reading —, presents us a mature woman in conflict with herself. Did she do wrong when she tried to look for herself when raising her children? Society, in general, expects women to feel bad about it, so I'm glad this film has a main character that deconstructs what a mother means now.

Apart from that, the acting in it is very good. Olivia Colman is amazing as always but, for me, Jesse Buckley is the real star. The way she represents the joy and the frustration of being a young mother more focused on her career and her personal affairs is on point. And the other characters have a good development arc too. Almost everyone expresses their tribulations to Leda (Colman), making the movie more interesting.

Hope this film gets more love during awards season.