The Lost Daughter is a 2021 psychological drama film written and directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal (in her feature directorial debut), based on the 2006 novel by Elena Ferrante. The film stars Olivia Colman, Dakota Johnson, Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal, Dagmara Domińczyk, Jack Farthing, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Peter Sarsgaard, and Ed Harris. Colman also was an executive producer.
The Lost Daughter had its world premiere at the 78th Venice International Film Festival on September 3, 2021, where Gyllenhaal won the Best Screenplay award, and began a limited theatrical release in the United States on December 17, prior to streaming on December 31 on Netflix. The film was acclaimed by critics, and at the 94th Academy Awards received three nominations: Best Actress (Colman), Best Supporting Actress (Buckley), and Best Adapted Screenplay.
Plot While on holiday in Greece, middle-aged university professor and noted translator Leda Caruso meets Nina, a young mother, after Leda reunites Nina with her three-year-old daughter Elena, who has momentarily gone missing on the beach. Leda and Nina start talking, and Nina expresses her growing exhaustion and unhappiness.
Elena is upset after she loses her favorite doll, which Leda has secretly taken. In flashbacks, it is shown that Leda also struggled with being a young mother to her two daughters, Bianca and Martha, often losing her patience and becoming withdrawn from her family.
One evening Leda has dinner with Lyle, her holiday apartment's caretaker; he notices Leda has Elena's missing doll but doesn't comment on it, nor does he tell Nina. Leda later discovers Nina is having an affair with Will, who works at the beach bar; separately, Nina shares that her husband Toni is very controlling. The search for Elena's doll continues, with Nina even putting up flyers offering a reward for its return.
At a market, Leda buys Nina a hatpin to help hold her sunhat in place. When Nina asks Leda about her daughters, Leda becomes emotional; she reveals that she had abandoned them with her now ex-husband for three years after she became too overwhelmed, during which time she had an affair with a fellow professor. She admits being away from her daughters felt "amazing", and she only went back to them when she genuinely missed them. Nina learns that Leda knows about her and Will, and he later asks Leda if they can borrow her apartment to have sex.
When Nina arrives at Leda's to get the apartment keys the following day, Leda admits to being a selfish and "unnatural" mother and warns that Nina's depression will never go. She then gives Nina Elena's doll, confessing that she took it and that she was "just playing". Nina reacts angrily by stabbing Leda in the stomach with the hatpin before leaving. That night, Leda packs her bags and leaves the resort, but her stomach injury causes her to drive her car off the road; she soon collapses on the shoreline.
The next morning, Leda awakens and calls Bianca, who happens to be with Martha. They express their relief to hear from their mother, from whom they had not heard in several days. Leda says she is fine and then looks down to discover an orange in her hands; she peels the orange skin off "like a snake", the way she had done for her daughters when they were little.
Cast
Production Maggie Gyllenhaal acquired the film rights to the Elena Ferrante novel in October 2018, and wrote and directed the adaptation.Maggie Gyllenhaal Acquires ‘The Lost Daughter’ Novel To Make Her Film Directorial Debut The lead character, Leda, says that she is named for the woman in the W. B. Yeats poem "Leda and the Swan", which Yeats based on the Leda story of Greek mythology.Leda and the Swan poem - accessed 1/5/2022
In February 2020, Olivia Colman, Jessie Buckley, Dakota Johnson and Peter Sarsgaard were cast in the film.‘The Lost Daughter’: Olivia Colman, Jessie Buckley, Dakota Johnson & Peter Sarsgaard Set For Maggie Gyllenhaal’s EFM-Bound Directorial Debut In August, Paul Mescal was added,'Normal People' Breakout Paul Mescal Joins Maggie Gyllenhaal Directorial Debut 'The Lost Daughter' (Exclusive) and in October 2020, Oliver Jackson-Cohen was cast as well, with Ed Harris, Dagmara Domińczyk, Jack Farthing and Alba Rohrwacher joining in November.
Principal photography was filmed in Spetses, Greece, from September 28 to October 31, 2020.
Music
The film's score was written by Dickon Hinchliffe, and released as a separate album through Milan Records on December 17, 2021. Another album which featured the original songs written and performed by singer-songwriter Monika Christodoulou was released on December 24.
Release The Lost Daughter had its world premiere at the 78th Venice International Film Festival on September 3, 2021. In August 2021, Netflix acquired distribution rights to the film in the United States and several other countries, adding more markets, including the United Kingdom, in October. The film screened at film festivals in the Telluride, Hamptons, London, Lyon Metropolis, Mill Valley, Montclair, New York, San Diego (closing night), Zurich, and Whistler Film Festival. It was released in the United States on December 17, 2021, in a limited release prior to streaming on Netflix on December 31, 2021.
Reception Critics
At its opening night world premiere, the movie received a four-minute standing ovation from Venice Film Festival attendees in the Sala Grande.
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 94% based on 237 reviews, with an average rating of 8.4/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "A strikingly assured debut for writer-director Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Lost Daughter unites a brilliant cast in service of a daringly ambitious story." On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 86 out of 100, based on reviews from 51 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".
Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote: "Still, no matter how flat The Lost Daughter can sometimes seem, there's always something to hold our attention. The movie is never great, but it's never exactly dull. There's always a reason to stick around for the next scene."
Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times wrote: "Equal parts troubling and affecting, Leda epitomizes a type of woman whose needs are rarely addressed in American mainstream movies. We can dislike her, but we are never permitted to revile her." Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune wrote Gyllenhaal "keeps a close eye on what brings out the best in a scene, and in a story worth telling, with morally imperfect, fully dimensional, persistently human characters."
Alissa Wilkinson of Vox wrote "The movie captures the spirit of the novel well. It's suspenseful, but it's not a thriller; there are elements of obsession and eroticism, but they never quite go where you expect. The end is deeply ambiguous, neither punishing nor condoning its characters' behavior. It simply asks us to sit with them — to pay them the respect of attention, and learn something about ourselves in the process."
Actress and filmmaker Olivia Wilde praised the film, particularly Gyllenhaal's direction by saying "This unflinching new filmmaker only has time for the most interesting questions, it seems, and will not sanitize the narrative for our comfort. We have been warned: Maggie Gyllenhaal is here to push us to be a braver audience, and I, for one, am lapping it up from the front row."
In June 2025, IndieWire ranked the film at number 31 on its list of "The 100 Best Movies of the 2020s (So Far)".
Accolades Award Date of ceremony Category Recipients Result Venice International Film FestivalSeptember 11, 2021Golden Lion The Lost Daughter Best ScreenplayMaggie Gyllenhaal Gotham Independent Film AwardsNovember 29, 2021 Best Feature Charles Dorfman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Osnat Handelsman-Keren and Talia Kleinhendler Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director AwardMaggie Gyllenhaal Best Screenplay Outstanding Lead Performance Olivia Colman Outstanding Supporting Performance Jessie Buckley New York Film Critics Circle December 3, 2021Best First Film The Lost Daughter Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards December 6, 2021 Best Actress Olivia Colman New York Film Critics OnlineDecember 12, 2021 Top 10 Films of 2021The Lost Daughter Boston Society of Film Critics AwardsDecember 12, 2021 Best Supporting Actress Jessie Buckley Best New Filmmaker Maggie Gyllenhaal Chicago Film Critics Association AwardsDecember 15, 2021 Best Actress Olivia Colman Best Supporting Actress Jessie Buckley Best Adapted ScreenplayMaggie Gyllenhaal Milos Stehlik Breakthrough Filmmaker Award St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association AwardsDecember 19, 2021 Best Actress Olivia Colman Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics AssociationDecember 20, 2021 Best Picture The Lost Daughter Best Actress Olivia Colman National Society of Film Critics January 8, 2022 Best Supporting Actress Jessie Buckley Alliance of Women Film Journalists AwardsJanuary 2022 Best Film The Lost Daughter Best DirectorMaggie Gyllenhaal Best Screenplay, Adapted Best Woman Director Best Woman Screenwriter Best ActressOlivia Colman Most Daring Performance Award Best Actress in a Supporting Role Jessie Buckley Golden Globe Awards January 9, 2022 Best Director Maggie Gyllenhaal Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama Olivia Colman San Diego Film Critics SocietyJanuary 10, 2021 Best Director Maggie Gyllenhaal Best Actress Olivia Colman San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics CircleJanuary 10, 2022 Best Director Maggie Gyllenhaal Best Actress Olivia Colman Best Supporting Actress Jessie Buckley Best Adapted Screenplay Maggie Gyllenhaal Austin Film Critics AssociationJanuary 11, 2022 Best Actress Olivia Colman Best First Film Maggie Gyllenhaal Toronto Film Critics AssociationJanuary 16, 2022 Best Actress Olivia Colman Best Supporting Actress Jessie Buckley Best First Feature Maggie Gyllenhaal Houston Film Critics Society AwardsJanuary 19, 2022 Best Actress Olivia Colman Best Supporting Actress Jessie Buckley Online Film Critics Society AwardsJanuary 24, 2022 Best Actress Olivia Colman Best Adapted ScreenplayMaggie Gyllenhaal Best Debut Feature London Film Critics Circle AwardsFebruary 6, 2022 Film of the Year The Lost Daughter Actress of the YearOlivia Colman British/Irish Actress of the Year (for body of work) Jessie Buckley Supporting Actress of the Year Screenwriter of the Year Maggie Gyllenhaal Set Decorators Society of America Awards February 22, 2022 Best Achievement in Decor/Design of a Contemporary Feature Film Christine-Athina Vlachos, Inbal Weinberg USC Scripter Awards February 26, 2022 Best Adapted Screenplay - Film Maggie Gyllenhaal Screen Actors Guild Awards February 27, 2021 Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role Olivia Colman Art Directors Guild Awards March 5, 2022 Excellence in Production Design for a Contemporary Film Inbal Weinberg Independent Spirit AwardsMarch 6, 2022 Best Feature Charles Dorfman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Osnat Handelsman-Keren and Talia Kleinhendler Best DirectorMaggie Gyllenhaal Best Screenplay Best Supporting Female Jessie Buckley Directors Guild of America Awards March 12, 2022 Outstanding Directing – First-Time Feature Film Maggie Gyllenhaal IFTA Film & Drama AwardsMarch 12, 2022Actress in a supporting roleJessie Buckley Critics' Choice Movie Awards March 13, 2022 Best Actress Olivia Colman Best Adapted Screenplay Maggie Gyllenhaal British Academy Film AwardsMarch 13, 2022 Best Actress in a Supporting Role Jessie Buckley Best Adapted Screenplay Maggie Gyllenhaal Artios Awards March 17, 2022 Outstanding Achievement in Casting - Studio or Independent (Drama) Kahleen Crawford Academy Awards March 27, 2022 Best Actress Olivia Colman Best Supporting Actress Jessie Buckley Best Adapted Screenplay Maggie Gyllenhaal Satellite Awards April 2, 2022 Best Motion Picture – Drama The Lost Daughter Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama Olivia Colman Best Adapted Screenplay Maggie Gyllenhaal
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