A long, slow and overwrought drama
I saw this on Netflix. Like some others I was confused by the preview into thinking that it was some sort of suspense thriller. I guess it's based on some widely regarded book which I didn't read so my comments have only to do with the movie.
It got good reviews, there's talk of Oscar noms... My wife and I thought it was a snooze fest with so many inconsistencies.
i. What was with the continual menacing looks that the family kept giving Coleman's character? When Johnson first meets Coleman after her daughter was found she gives her the most peculiar penetrating stare for no reason I could fathom. This made me think that something sinister would happen later on, but none of it amounts to anything.
ii. The junior version of Leda is portrayed as this free-spirited type who leaves her children to pursue an affair of the heart and mind. I just couldn't see her morphing into the senior version of Leda who is withdrawn, buttoned down and easily intimidated.
iii. Leda feels this intense guilt for leaving her children for three years... so much so that decades later she still can't deal with it. Seems extreme. My younger sister and I went through a similar scenario. We re-connected with our mother. We were fine. Our mother was fine. We loved each other and shared adventures for the rest of her lifetime. Kids are way more resilient than this movie gives them credit for.
... although...
iv. The children in this movie are uniformly unsympathetic little s**ts... I'd leave them too tbh. What parent allows their kids to slap them in the face with little more than an exasperated 'Stop it'?
v. Why would Johnson's character bond so suddenly and intimately with this woman? Giving her a kiss, asking to use her flat to carry on an affair... Leda found her daugther sure, but this alone wouldn't suggest that Nina can confidently spill secrets such as the fact her husband would literally murder Nina if he found out about her affair. Nina: "My husband would cut my throat if he discovered my affair! But, hey, can I borrow YOUR flat to get my monkey sex on with Will?" Thinks Nina: "If your husband would kill you, what do you think he would do to me, if he found out I lent you my flat?"
vi. For that matter, why would Will risk an affair with Nina? He personally knows that these are 'bad people' and warns Leda not to piss them off. Will seems kinds stupid to not follow his own advice.
vi. Papering a damn forest with posters for a missing doll? Really? In my neighbourhood, missing cats and dogs don't get that much publicity. Get the kid a new doll, tell her to get over the old one and move on. Jeezus...
v. The bit about trying to make the doll seem significant, a metaphor for Leda's experiences, etc seemed overdone. Johnson's character goes from confiding in this woman about her affair to stabbing her with a hatpin in a matter of minutes because the entire damn family was traumatized by the loss of a doll.
Olivia Coleman can certainly cry and make her lip tremble to the point where you believe she's truly upset. But it was all in support of a weak setup and story.