The Lost Daughter                           4 stars

Maggie Gyllenhaal’s new movie, The Lost Daughter is not one that is easily understood or for that matter one I can relate to well. It’s an adaptation of a novel by one Elena Ferrante about a middle-aged woman, Leda (Olivia Colman, a favorite of mine) who is on a summer vacation on a Greek island resort by herself. The movie is not one that is driven by plot, but is more about creating a feeling. Leda’s career is in the literary field which brings her to large lecture halls where she meets men with great academic minds. She also happens to be a mother, having raised two daughters, largely by herself. It is these two worlds that collide causing her to make some choices most of us would not approve of. Most of the movie happens in and around the villa where she is staying, the beach and small shops that she visits. She meets and makes acquaintance with Nina, a young American mother (Dakota Johnson), and her extended family that seemingly invade the beach with their loud antics creating uncomfortable situations. There is Will (Paul Mescal), a much younger man who isn’t above spending time with the older Leda. And there is the local older groundskeeper, Lyle (Ed Harris) who seems to wonder if he can make a connection with Leda. So we can tell that Leda is a popular person. The rest of the movie takes us back twenty or so years earlier, when the young Leda (Jessie Buckley) is very frustrated at the task of raising her two daughters, ages 5 and 7. It is older Leda’s meeting with Nina, who has her hands full with her own young daughter, that gets Leda to remember her own experiences with her children, an experience that apparently includes some bad memories (and questionable choices). All of the actors are excellent in their roles making the characters believable while contributing to the audience’s feeling of unease. It is a film that was very well received by critics, but as I said, perhaps not one that some of us can relate to. The Lost Daughter had Academy Award nominations for Olivia Colman, Jessie Buckley and Adapted Screenplay for Maggie Gyllenhaal. The movie can be found on Netflix.