86
Metascore
51 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100The TelegraphRobbie CollinThe TelegraphRobbie CollinThe sheer unsparing intimacy of Gyllenhaall’s film gives its thrills an excitingly illicit quality. Watching it feels like reading someone else’s diary – and then finding yourself mentioned in its pages.
- 100VarietyPeter DebrugeVarietyPeter DebrugeThrough it all, Gyllenhaal assumes an unfussy, practically invisible non-style that conveys the essential (like that missing doll, visible in the background of a key scene) while privileging the performances.
- 100The PlaylistTomris LafflyThe PlaylistTomris LafflyThe Lost Daughter leaves you haunted, shaken, and crushingly scarred like only the best of films are capable of doing.
- 91IndieWireJessica KiangIndieWireJessica KiangGyllenhaal’s film is a story of self-ascribed transgression and of shame buried and turned bitterly inward, and it too, is made with such alertness to the power of cinematic language – particularly that of performance – that even as you feel your stomach slowly drop at the implications of what you’re watching, you cannot break its spreading sinister spell.
- 90The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyThe Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyThe reclusive Italian author’s familiar themes of female relationships, sexuality, motherhood and women’s struggle to carve a professional space outside it are beautifully served in this uncompromising character study, illuminated by performances of jagged brilliance from Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley as her younger self.
- 90TheWrapYolanda MachadoTheWrapYolanda MachadoThe Lost Daughter is a masterwork in perception and all that society places upon mothers and motherhood.
- 90To call The Lost Daughter an assured debut is to do it a slight disservice—assurance suggests that a filmmaker knows everything going in. What we see in The Lost Daughter is something greater: the act of discovery—of the gifts actors can bring to a story, of how to hold a complex narrative together—in progress.
- 80The GuardianXan BrooksThe GuardianXan BrooksI’m not convinced, on balance, that Gyllenhaal’s delicious drama is finally much more than a storm in a teacup. But what a cup, what a storm. When Hurricane Colman blows in from the sea, be sure your roof’s in good shape and that all the windows are fastened.
- 75The Film StageDavid KatzThe Film StageDavid Katz[Gyllenhaal’s] chief successes are in making her adaptation of The Lost Daughter as intellectually engaging as the novel, whilst bringing the characters to life with performances beautifully appropriate for cinema––one thing an author doesn’t have in his or her arsenal, is summoning a camera “close-up,” with an actor creating that particular emotional transparency in tandem.