The Lost Daughter

Ah, the calm ideal of a remote Greek isle, a postcard-perfect apartment with a balcony overlooking the sea, and the serene bliss of an empty beach with tender waves gently lapping the shore. Alas, nothing gold can stay: fruit spoils, rain pounds, pine cones attack, other humans arrive, raucous and rude. And, just like that, everything is rotten: marriage is a hindrance; motherhood is a drag; and children are a constant, screaming annoyance. We had a mixed reaction to the film in our house: @tmaxwelljones enjoyed the prolonged dread and menace, but the ponderous pace and tight angles left me tense and unsettled (though, perhaps, that was the point). We both agree that Olivia Colman is a consummate actress delivering a subtle, disturbing turn as an “unnatural mother.” Who is the lost daughter? The film suggests it might be all women, and, by extension, all humanity.