Directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal (her first film as a director; known as an actress including winning an Oscar for her performance in Crazy Heart) and starring Olivia Colman (The Favourite; The Father; Murder on the Orient Express; The Lobster; The Iron Lady; The Night Manager (tv series); The Crown (tv series); Broadchurch (TV Series)), Jessie Buckley (The Courier; Dolittle; Chernobyl (TV Series); Fargo (TV Series)), Dakota Johnson (The High Note; The Peanut Butter Falcon; Fifty Shades of Grey; 21 Jump Street; The Social Network), Ed Harris (The Truman Show; Apollo 13; The Hours; Pollock; Westworld; Snowpiercer; Man on a Ledge; National Treasure: Book of Secrets; Enemy at the Gates), Peter Sarsgaard (The Magnificent Seven; Black Mass; Night Moves; Blue Jasmine; Knight and Day; Flightplan; The Looming Tower (TV Mini Series)) and Paul Mescal (Normal People (TV Mini Series); The Deceived (TV Series)).
Drama; 121 mins; 12+
Leda (Olivia Colman), a middle-aged university professor of comparative literature is at a loss when her daughters (in their early 20s) leave home to be with their father in Canada. Instead of feeling lonely, she feels liberated and takes a working holiday in Greece where she tries to both relax and get in some work.
She meets Lyle (Ed Harris) who looks after her, and other, holiday rentals at the resort, and also Will (Paul Mescal), a college student from Ireland who is working as a beach boy for the summer.
Her idyllic peace is shattered when a rowdy and brash family group arrives at the beach. While little is said between the two, Leda recognises herself in Nina (Dakota Johnson), a young mother whose daughter is wearing her out. When the girl goes missing, Leda finds her and reunites her with her mother, Nina, and the rest of the family. However, unknown to the family, Leda takes the girl's beloved doll with the girl inconsolable for days.
Leda becomes overwhelmed by memories when she was a young mother (Jessie Buckley) to two girls of approximately the same age, when she too was worn out by the constant attention-seeking of her girls, all the while when she is trying to focus on her academic studies. As her recollections evolve, the audience learns about the choices she made as a mother and their consequences for herself and her family.
During these flashbacks, she in invited to an academic gathering at which her professor is speaking and at which she meets Professor Hardy (Peter Sarsgaard) who recognises her work and references it in front of everyone.
The links between Nina's challenges as a young mother, and young Lena's when she was going through the same challenges and troubles, are interwoven in a slow-burning and atmospheric drama that frequently involves scenes in which there is no dialogue. As Lena confronts and relives her unsettled past, what advice can she give Nina?
A thought-provoking directorial debut by Maggie Gyllenhaal who has a proven track record in front of the camera. Helped by a wonderful cast driven forward by the incredible Olivia Colman, one cannot help think if this script was not written with her pre-cast in the role of Leda. The acting is superb throughout, from Paul Mescal as the carefree Will to Dakota Johnson as the young mother at her wit's end, trying to care for her daughter while terrified of her husband; but Jessie Buckley must get the plaudits too for her accent and mannerisms which mimicked perfectly those of the older Lena.
Currently showing at Ciné Utpoia.
