Cert:15| ★★★★★

Acclaimed Jewish actor Maggie Gyllenhaal here directs a brilliantly detailed character study about a woman tormented by maternal guilt in this impressive directorial debut feature. Based on the 2008 novel of the same name by Elena Ferrante, The Lost Daughter features a stunning turn from Oscar-winner Olivia Colman (The Favourite, The Crown) who stars as a woman forced to confront her troubled past during a solo beach holiday. Dakota Johnson, Jessie Buckley, Normal People’s Paul Mescal and Ed Harris also star.
Arriving in Greece for a brief beach sojourn, middle-aged academic Leda (Colman) hopes to spend her days reading and researching for the new academic year. When her peace is disturbed by a newly arrived loud Italian-American family, Leda instantly takes a dislike to them, but later becomes obsessed with young mother Nina (Dakota Johnson) and her clingy daughter. Meanwhile, Nina who is married to the overbearing and abusive Toni (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) is also having second thoughts about staying with her abuser.
It soon transpires that Leda has suffered a troubling experience in her youth. As flashback sequences later reveal, the academic (played gorgeously as a younger woman by Jessie Buckley) had struggled to juggle her fulfilling research work and that of being a mother to two young daughters. As memories rush in of her cruel and unforgivable behaviour towards them and their father some twodecades earlier, Leda can’t seem to forgive herself or come to terms with what she did. Her ordeal soon culminates in a showdown withNina who in turn has caught the eye of handsome student Will (Mescal).
Gyllenhaal navigates this rather thorny subject matter with impressive ease as she delves deep into the psyche of a woman who chose a career and a new lover over her own flesh and blood. Although one has to admire the honesty with which the subject is broached, what’s even more impressive is how little judgement there is here.
Although it looks like Colman may already be a shoe-in for an Oscar nod for her beautifully nuanced interpretation, there is also a lot to be said about Jesse Buckley’s fearless and visceral performance as a woman caught between the desire to live her life freely away from her responsibilities and the duty of care that is expected from all mothers.
Granted, many will fail to sympathise with the younger Leda’s actions, but it is precisely this honesty in writing and direction that makes Gyllenhaal’s film into one the best dramas of the year.
The Lost Daughter isn’t just cleverly adapted, it is also a film that knows its audience and trusts them to understand the original text’s motives. The film is also a tour de force in the art of “show, don’t tell” where often all is implied without being said. It takes real talent to be able to inject this much nuance and as a director, Gyllenhaal has proved that she has what it takes.