It’s clear from sitting in a London hotel suite with Olivia Colman, Dakota Johnson and Jessie Buckley that when they say they enjoyed working together, it’s not for the benefit of column inches. Finishing each other’s sentences and teasing one another, the women are sitting in front of the backdrop of a sun-dappled beach and will later hold hands on the red carpet as their film debuts at the London Film Festival.
With its gorgeous cinematography of Greece and the stars’ jolly banter, you could be forgiven for thinking their project, The Lost Daughter, was a romcom or travel porn. But Maggie Gyllenhaal’s directorial debut from her own adapted screenplay of Elena Ferrante’s novel is a bold, questioning thriller that wrongfoots viewers at every turn and promotes conversation about female societal roles, regret and lack of it. Filmed last year on the island of Spetses, The Lost Daughter follows British academic Leda (Colman) as she takes a working holiday to the Attica region. While reading on her sun-lounger she observes young American mother Nina (Johnson) and her little girl – uncovering painful memories from her own past. Buckley essays the young Leda, trapped in a suffocating marriage and struggling to retain a sense of herself.
Playing to rave reviews at recent festivals, it’s a film that positions unapologetic women as complex characters with rich, messy lives. There’s disco dancing to Bon Jovi, ill-advised theft, hotel sex and a very pointy reckoning... Little wonder then that it’s in the awards conversation as the road to Oscar begins.
Was it as lovely to film in Greece as it looked?
Olivia Colman [deadpan] Awful. We had a terrible time…
Denne historien er fra December 2021-utgaven av Total Film.
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Denne historien er fra December 2021-utgaven av Total Film.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
RETURN TO OZ
WICKED Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande defy gravity as the Broadway smash reaches cinemas.
GRIN AND BEAR IT
SMILE 2 Trauma-horror sequel sees the curse latch onto a pop superstar...
BAD ROMANCE
TIMESTALKER Alice Lowe falls in love with the wrong man time and time again...
CLOWNING GORY
TERRIFIER 3 Creator Damien Leone says Art the Clown is coming home for Christmas...
SELF EXPRESSION
LAYLA A non-binary, British-Palestinian drag queen navigates their expression of identity.
GENA ROWLANDS
I like difficult roles,' said Gena Rowlands. No kidding. A stage, TV and film actor whose career spanned more than six decades, Rowlands will be most remembered for the series of coruscating dramas she made with her first husband, actor-turned-director John Cassavetes, between 1968 and 1984.
'NOW NOTHING IS ABOUT LOOKS OR ABOUT BEING A LEADING LADY.AND IT'S VERY LIBERATING' EMILY WATSON
Since breaking hearts in Breaking the Waves, Emily Watson has delivered countless screen masterclasses, from Gosford Park and Punch-Drunk Love to Apple Tree Yard. Now, the English star goes toe-to-toe with Cilllan Murohy in Irish drama Smeal/ Things like hese and fronts 1V prequel Dune: Prophecy. Is it her second coming? It's elementary, my dear Watson...
BLODD PRESSURE
BASED ON STEPHEN KING'S MOST INFLUENTIAL BOOK AND WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY IT SCRIBE GARY DAUBERMAN, VAMPIRE MOVIE SALEM'S LOT FACED AN UNHOLY FIGHT TO GET TO OUR SCREENS. TOTAL FILM HUNTS DOWN DAUBERMAN AND STARS LEWIS PULLMAN AND MAKENZIE LEIGH TO LEARN ALL THAT WAS AT STAKE...
Lucky Man
He broke out in Beatles jukebox musical Yesterday and has a varied slate of juicy projects on the horizon, including a very different take on a superhero franchise. But, as the everhumble Himesh Patel tells Total Film, he puts a lot of it down to luck...
A BUE ABOVE
WORLD-BUILDER EXTRAORDINAIRE RIDLEY SCOTT IS ALSO THE MASTER OF THE DIRECTOR'S CUT, RESTORING HIS MISHANDLED GEMS INTO MASTERPIECES. WITH THE EXPANSIVE DIRECTOR'S CUT OF NAPOLEON NOW AVAILABLE TO STREAM, TOTAL FILM SPEAKS TO THE GREAT SCOTT ABOUT BLOWING UP BONAPARTE HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH EDITING AND WHY BIGGER IS (USUALLY) BETTER.