'I did not understand what was the movie about!' complained someone as we discussed The Lost Daughter. 'It was about many things, but not in a typical Hollywood way' I replied. But later I realised: the film can give you this impression because it attempts to normalise feelings and actions that are otherwise frequently judged and criticised.
In a phrase, the movie is about a single women on holiday in a small but dull beach resort in Greece as she tries to cope with her past actions and feelings. Nothing out of the ordinary really happens but this I think is the underlying force of the movie, that actions of dispare, of depression, of abandonment are explained in a truly sophisticated way. Viewers end up understanding the main character and resonating with feelings that might be totally strange to us.
The movie is also a very positive one, in spite of its rather sombre atmosphere. Another one of its messages is that life move on. And implicitly that we should move on. Nearly falling into depression, the main character picks itself up literary at the very end and smiles again. That smile and the laughter is the true cherry on top of this great movie. Olivia Colman is superb, by the way. She plays a very unassuming, even banal middle-age lady and she manages to embody the character so well that you often forget Olivia Colman is actually there. Pure genius. Top Oscar contender for sure.
Finally, the movie is also feminist but in a subtle, extremely inteligent way. The main character is someone who has always taken the life in her own hands and managed to find a way, build a life in a very independent way. This are not things said but shown and communicated in a thorough way.
In a phrase, the movie is about a single women on holiday in a small but dull beach resort in Greece as she tries to cope with her past actions and feelings. Nothing out of the ordinary really happens but this I think is the underlying force of the movie, that actions of dispare, of depression, of abandonment are explained in a truly sophisticated way. Viewers end up understanding the main character and resonating with feelings that might be totally strange to us.
The movie is also a very positive one, in spite of its rather sombre atmosphere. Another one of its messages is that life move on. And implicitly that we should move on. Nearly falling into depression, the main character picks itself up literary at the very end and smiles again. That smile and the laughter is the true cherry on top of this great movie. Olivia Colman is superb, by the way. She plays a very unassuming, even banal middle-age lady and she manages to embody the character so well that you often forget Olivia Colman is actually there. Pure genius. Top Oscar contender for sure.
Finally, the movie is also feminist but in a subtle, extremely inteligent way. The main character is someone who has always taken the life in her own hands and managed to find a way, build a life in a very independent way. This are not things said but shown and communicated in a thorough way.