Maggie Gyllenhaal’s directorial debut is gripping – and its breakout performance is riveting.
Everything electric, elusive, and tactile about the chemistry between Dakota Johnson and Olivia Colman, the dreaminess of Hélène Louvart‘s cinematography, and the synaptic rhythms of Affonso Gonçalves‘ editing, is captured in this scene breakdown with Johnson and (debut!) director Maggie Gyllenhaal (via Vanity Fair)…
… but what isn’t captured in that breakdown is the magnetic unpredictability and simmering chaos of Jessie Buckley‘s performance as the young Olivia Coleman – a casting choice which seems odd at first, until you begin to see for yourself the fractured magic Buckley weaves between her episodic scenes. Wow.
Between the four women, a picture that is at once shimmering, impressionistic, angular, and brittle, is painted of the cracks within motherhood within which urges we speak not of are located: desire, loss, loathing, destruction. A unique directorial debut, with a uniquely riveting breakout performance.
Further Viewing
Maggie Gyllenhaal chats with Simon Mayo about The Lost Daughter:
We take fascinating, inspiring lessons from another actor-turned-director Sarah Polley in how to handle harrowing subject matter while being kind to your cast and crew. Women Talking (2022) features Jessie Buckley as part of a stellar ensemble: