The Lost Daughter Parent Guide

Leda Caruso (Olivia Coleman), a professor of Italian literature, has decide to take a summer holiday by herself on a beautiful Greek beach. While there, she sees Nina (Dakota Johnson) and her young daughter Elena (Athena Martin), who are on vacation with their large and loud family from Queens. Over the course of the trip, Leda finds herself reminded of her own experience as a mother. As a younger woman, Leda (played by Jessie Buckley) had two daughters, Bianca (Robyn Ewell) and Martha (Ellie Blake). Balancing their needs with her academic career and the demands of her own personality became more and more difficult. And as Leda remembers her messy past, she becomes increasingly obsessed with Nina and Elena.

Speaking of difficult, this isn’t an easy film to watch. Leda is well played by Olivia Coleman, who gives so much life to a deeply mysterious and clearly troubled character – a role well supported by Jessie Buckley’s portrayal in the flashback segments of the film. But good acting does not make for easy watching - and the details of Leda’s life are very, very messy. Her behaviour is frequently strange, and justifications are not forthcoming.

More to the point, the film has some of the most sexually graphic dialogue I’ve ever heard, which makes this an awkward pick for date night. It also features a number of sex scenes with varying levels of detail and nudity. One of which, notably, features director Maggie Gyllenhaal’s husband Peter Sarsgaard and Jessie Buckley, which adds just a little “weird” factor to the whole production.

The Lost Daughter is an ambitious film, focused primarily on the invisible emotional lives of their characters. It is remarkably successful making those complex feelings visible to an audience but requires abundant patience. The movie is slower paced, and very willing to take time developing its plot and characters. The story can be emotionally tasking, anxiety-inducing, and awkward. In that sense, it captures a lot of the chaotic mess of real life. But it’s certainly not a film for everyone. Whether you want a little less conversation and a little more action, or considerably less sex or profanity, you’re going to want to think carefully before you commit to two hours of it.