Motherhood is a uniquely feminine and truly awe-inspiring experience. And the relationship between a mother and her daughter is beautiful and tender. But what no one ever tells you is that this experience can be very intense at times. So much so that it complicates the emotions of a mother, making life chaotic, exhausting, and pushing her off the edge. The Lost Daughter explores these complex dynamics of motherhood. Here’s what it has in store.
The story follows Leda Caruso (Olivia Colman), a middle-aged college professor who goes to Greece for a summer vacation. But soon, she meets a woman and her daughter and gets obsessed with them. This triggers some unpleasant memories from her past and things take a very dark turn for everyone involved.
The psychological drama movie is directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal. Gyllenhaal holds a long-running reputation as an actress and a producer. She has earlier directed an episode of the 2020 television series, Homemade. The Lost Daughter is Gyllenhaal’s debut in directing a feature film. She also wrote the screenplay for the same and serves as a co-producer on this project, along with Charlie Dorfman, Osnat Handelsman-Keren, and Talia Kleinhendler.
The Lost Daughter is based on the 2006 novel of the same name by Elena Ferrante. Originally titled La figlia oscura in Italian, the book was translated into English by Ann Goldstein in 2008. In 2018, Maggie Gyllenhaal acquired the rights to the novel to be adapted into a movie.
If you are already intrigued by what you have learned so far about The Lost Daughter, then read on to discover everything else that has been revealed so far about this thrilling movie. Get all the details, from the release date and trailer to cast and character details, plot, and more.
When Is The Lost Daughter’s Release Date?
The Lost Daughter premiered at the 78th Venice International Film Festival on September 3, 2021. Maggie Gyllenhaal was awarded the Golden Osella for the same in the Best Screenplay category. The movie has also been screened at other major film festivals, at the Telluride, Hamptons, London, Lyon Metropolis, Mill Valley, Montclair, New York, San Diego, Zurich, and the Whistler Film Festival in Canada.
Netflix has acquired the rights to distribute the movie in the United States and the United Kingdom, among other countries. So, after a limited theatrical release, the movie will also be released on the streaming platform. The Lost Daughter is all set to arrive in the theaters across the United States on December 17, 2021 and will be made available for streaming on Netflix from December 31, 2021.
‘The Lost Daughter’ Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNq9YOfL0Zs
Netflix released the official trailer of The Lost Daughter on October 18, 2021. The clip opens with Leda Caruso traveling to Greece. Soon she encounters a young woman and her little daughter and starts to observe and stalk them. The trailer gives us a look at Leda’s character, with a lot of suspense built around her and her life. It also shows Nina, the mother, getting quite concerned about Leda’s behavior. There are also a few quick glimpses into Leda’s past, where we see her as the young mother of two little girls and she suddenly leaves without a word to her children. In a scene where Nina and her sister-in-law Callie ask Leda about motherhood, she simply and rather coldly responds, “Children are a crushing responsibility.” This statement says a lot about how Leda might have been as a mother.
An educated guess would be that she abandoned her children and her past decision is what troubles her now. Seeing Nina and her family makes Leda regret her actions. We can clearly see from the clip that things don’t turn out well for Leda and something bad is about to happen. The feeling is only reiterated by an ominous repetition of “Don’t let it break. Peel it like a snake,” by a child. It’s possible that this is the voice of Leda’s daughter/s that keeps haunting her for the mistakes she had made.
A well-made promo, the trailer proves that the stakes in this story are high and though a lot of the plot is disclosed, it’s most likely just the tip of the iceberg, and there’s a lot more to uncover, which you can do only when you watch it.
Who Is in The Lost Daughter’s Cast?
Like the powerful plotline, the cast of The Lost Daughter is quite a strong one. Olivia Coleman and Dakota Johnson lead the ensemble cast, along with Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal, Dagmara Domińczyk, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Peter Sarsgaard, and Ed Harris in major roles. The cast list also includes Jack Farthing and Alba Rohrwacher, among others.
Who Are the Confirmed Characters in The Lost Daughter?
Take a look at the major characters of The Lost Daughter and the respective cast members who play the same:
Olivia Colman plays the leading role of Leda Caruso, a middle-aged woman and a solo traveler in Greece. The story is essentially about Leda, how she navigates her emotions as a mother, her past, and present and where it all leads her eventually.
Jessie Buckley plays a younger version of Leda Caruso, as we see in the trailer. She is a mother of two girls and the younger Leda reveals a lot about the behavior of her older self.
Dakota Johnson appears in the role of Nina, a fellow traveler. She is the mother of a little girl, with whom Leda gets obsessed.
Peter Sarsgaard plays Professor Hardy, who is interested in Leda’s career and also her current circumstances. It is possible that there is some kind of love interest involved here.
Ed Harris appears as Lyle, the man who manages the vacation home where Leda spends her holiday. Lyle appears to have some interest in Leda as well but as we see in the promos, she seems quite cold towards him.
Paul Mescal plays Will, a seasonal worker at the beach house where Leda is staying.
Dagmara Domińczyk plays Callie, another fellow vacationer and a relative of Nina's. Leda takes a keen interest in their family and from the promo clip, it seems quite obvious that Callie has some suspicions about Leda’s obsessions.
Oliver Jackson-Cohen plays the role of Toni, Nina’s husband.
When Was The Lost Daughter Filmed?
Despite all the challenges of COVID-19, The Lost Daughter started filming during the pandemic. The movie’s principal photography began in September 2020. The production is now complete and ready to hit the screens.
When Is The Lost Daughter Set?
The main story of The Lost Daughter is set in the present day. But as evident from the trailer, there are a lot of flashbacks in the movie, where we see a younger Leda Caruso and her two daughters. So, it is obvious that there will be a lot of back and forth between the current time and a few decades earlier, to explore Leda’s past life and understand her current character arc.
What Is The Lost Daughter’s Story?
The original Italian novel by Elena Ferrante is a brutal and frank but very touching take on the complexities of motherhood. Since The Lost Daughter is a feature adaptation of the same, the basic premise of the story remains the same, albeit with a lot of dramatic twists and turns.
Here’s the official synopsis from Netflix –
“A woman’s beach vacation takes a dark turn when her obsession with a young mother, forces her to confront the secrets of her past.”
Leda Caruso is a middle-aged college professor, who goes for a summer vacation on a bright and sunny coast, somewhere in Greece. But the sunshine does not last long. When a big family of loud and squabbling vacationers lands on the beach, they draw Leda’s attention, especially a young mom Nina and her little daughter. Leda watches them, obsessed with the mother-daughter bonding, and gets drawn into her own past.
On the receiving end of Leda's unwelcome attentions are Nina and her little girl and Nina's sister-in-law Callie, both of whom seem somewhat suspicious about Leda’s behavior. Things soon become unsettling for Leda and her choices as a young mother come back to bite her in the present, sending her down a rabbit hole of unpleasant emotions and disturbing experiences. As her history haunts her, Leda must face her demons and the ghosts of her past so she can rediscover herself.
The Lost Daughter is the story of a woman’s emotional struggles and how her obsessions lead to dangerous consequences. It is also a story of a mother’s regret of not being enough for her children.
As the writer-director, Maggie Gyllenhaal pointed out in an interview, “If I relate to this fictional experience that this woman is writing, it means this is an experience that many people are having, and it isn’t being talked about.”
The movie is a thoughtful exploration of the conflicting emotions that a mother experiences and how they tie her to her children. But this is a subject that isn’t discussed or debated as much as it should be. And no one talks about the challenges that come with the rewards of being a mother. It can be painful and disconcerting to see the hard truth, so brace yourself for an intensely emotional journey.