The Lost Daughter (2021)

Actress Maggie Gyllenhaal makes her feature directing and writing debut with this well done, intense drama about a middle aged woman on vacation in Greece, interacting with other tourists as well as flashing back to earlier in her life. Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley have earned their nominations and wins for playing present and past Leda. Supporting cast includes Dakota Johnson, Ed Harris, and Peter Sarsgaard (Gyllenhaal's real life husband).

Gyllenhaal based her script on the 2008 novel by Elena Ferrante, who sold the rights with the proviso that the movie be directed by a woman. I don't usually follow the Women Film Critics Circle Awards in my running list of nominees and winners sorted by title, but I have to mention that this movie won its Mommie Dearest Worst Screen Mom of the Year Award.

I'm streaming Dickon Hinchcliffe's score right now on Apple Music. It's probably available elsewhere. The score is supplemented by this list of songs.

Cinematographer Hélène Louvart's lovely images were shot on location in Spetses and other Greek locations.

Colman was last blogged for The Father, Buckley for I'm Thinking of Ending Things, Johnson for The High Note, Sarsgaard for Jackie, Hinchcliffe for Ben Is Back, and Louvart for Never Rarely Sometimes Always. When I mentioned Harris in the post about Snowpiercer, he had not been in any other features I'd seen since beginning this blog so here's the summary: nominated for Oscars for Apollo 13 (1995), The Truman Show (1998), Pollack (2000), and The Hours (2002), he's also been lauded for Glengarry Glen Ross (1992), A Beautiful Mind (2001), and many more.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics' average is a familial 95%, while its audiences are estranged at 47. Jack and I enjoyed it on Netflix on January 2.