Olivia Colman was mesmerizing in her many roles from the Netflix series "The Crown," in which she played Queen Elizabeth II, "The Favourite," in which she starred as another queen. Her latest movie, “The Lost Daughter,” is the British Oscar laureate’s latest triumph in the world of cinema.
On Dec. 31, 2021, Netflix released "The Lost Daughter," in which Colman plays a British professor holidaying in Greece where she suffers a psychological crisis.
The film is based on the novel by Italian author Elena Ferrante and directed by none other than actor Maggie Gyllenhaal.
The plot centers on Leda Caruso, who decides to take a holiday by herself and rents an apartment on the Greek island of Spetses. Occasionally flirting with Will, a good-looking student from Ireland working at the beach bar, and Lyle, the janitor, the 48-year-old scholar has brought her work to keep her company.
But signs abound that the idyllic atmosphere is only an illusion, as the camera zooms in on the fruit arranged in a bowl in Leda’s apartment which has begun to rot at the bottom.
Soon a vulgar and somehow threatening Greek American family arrives, taking over the quiet beach Leda likes to visit. She begins to observe Nina, an attractive woman played by Dakota Johnson who seems to remind Leda of herself when she struggles with her demanding small daughter.
The film jumps back and forth between Leda’s current life and a younger self, played by Jessie Buckley, slowly revealing what happened between Leda and her daughters.
"The Lost Daughter" emphatically portrays the inner life of a woman in her forties who struggles with the social roles and behaviors that are expected of her.
Her directorial debut, an impressive psycho drama that thrives on its strong female leads, earned Gyllenhaal the Best Screenplay Award at the 2021 Venice Film Festival Awards.
