The Lost Daughter
Still following the degrees of connection in my viewing I decided to follow the breadcrumb trails from Olivia Coleman and Paul Mescal which led me to finally watch this film, written and directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal, which is (partly at least) another meditation on parenthood. Olivia Coleman is Leda, a deliberately evocative name if I ever heard one, spending a week alone in a beachside get-away. The family that arrives to disrupt her peace is an irritant and a trigger for a series of flashes of memory about motherhood and relationship with her daughters. Having so recently watched Aftersun, I can’t help but see this as a partner piece, but this time there is no nostalgic childlike filter to soften the edges. The chaotic, brutal and unsparing look at the constant denial of self that parenting often requires was really on point, and the petty triumphs that the young version of Leda (an excellent Jessie Buckley) exacts are as recognisable as they are painful. This...