MovieChat Forums > The Lost Daughter (2021) Discussion > I thought this was about a kidnapped dau...

I thought this was about a kidnapped daughter


i think i saw a preview a while back but for some reason i thought this was about a child daughter that was taken at the beach. was pleasantly surprised when it turned out to be different and was a great acting role for olivia coleman. surprised to say the least. nice directorial debut from maggie gyllenhaal

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I just saw it in the cinema on a whim. Had no previous knowledge about the movie, but by seeing the trailer I also thought that they kiddnaped the daughter. It looked more sinister, like some dark psychological thriller. I thought Olivia’s character will be some psycho woman who gets obsessed with the little girl snd her mom. Boy, was I wrong.

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Indeed! Glas it was different than a normal kidnapping plot

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Yeah, I guess. I just think I would like the movie more if I knew what I was getting into. I had totally different expectations going by the trailer, which I kind of watched last minute just before we were deciding on the movie to watch at the cinema.
Because I kept expecting things to happen and then it ended. That being said Olivia was great. I wish I had some prior knowledge about the movie though.

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Spoilers...

From the time the kid was lost on the beach and Coleman found her, it was strongly suggested that something terrible had happened to her own daughter, and that she had died. Then in the end we find out that she's alive and well. So Coleman's crazy behavior throughout the movie (stealing the doll, playing with the doll, sleeping with the doll, doing weird things to the doll, buying clothes for the doll, etc.) is left without any adequate motivation.

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Well... Something did happen to Leda's daughters. She abandoned them for 3 years. A huge part of the drama of this movie was her guilt and regret over her decision, the way she was unable to be a "natural" mother to her children. Stealing the doll felt to me a bit like an attempt at a mothering do-over.

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