There' a great story to be told here but it has been weakly executed and poorly directed. The story takes us through events in Leda's life during a Holiday in Greece where situations bring us back to Leda's younger self and the choices she made in her youth. The story is painfully slow and although Maggie Gyllenhaal as the director / scriptwriter tries to make this an emotionally engaging story it fails to captivate the audience; it's simply a long winding story that doesn't seem to get anywhere until the very end where all things happen at once. This highlights in my mind the key insight that this film teaches us: Maggie Gyllenhaal isn't yet the great director that people around her tell her that she is. She still has a long way to go. Although its commendable to reach beyond your capabilities in order to grow professionally, you need to remain humble enough to understand when you're not just stumbling but free-falling. This is a very cerebral story; full of symbolism, feminism and moral grandstanding and in order to deliver this successfully without being seen as partisan to the topic is very hard. If you haven't seen the film yet, the topic here is portrayed as independence versus bondage of parenthood. Look for the symbolism and it becomes obvious. One of several examples high-lightening this can be seen in the scene where Leda goes to watch a movie one night. In that film, Elizabeth Taylor tells her new-born daughter "The last nine months I devoted to you. Now I'm going to have fun" and you can see how Leda is filled with emotions reminding her of the choices she made choosing her and career and independence over her daughters. Remaining mostly true to the book, the difference is that Leda in the book seems to agonise over her life choices and seeking redemption, whereas Leda in the film seem resigned and committed to her life choices and the consequences that they brought that ranges from the distant relationship she has with her daughters to the arrogance and moral superiority that she displays while interacting with others. Having said that, the acting is brilliant on all sides but you can only do so much with the script that you've been given and the direction that director offers. I am not impressed with this film.
Review of The Lost Daughter
