The Daughter

Perhaps I was not in the mood for it, went to watch "the daughter" after a coin toss with the alternative to be "the lady in the van". After reading the account of a Canadian here I was wondering if we saw the same thing! Yet all that was said was very much what I saw (save some early parts when I closed my eyes out of boredom) Some may say it was only my loss and they may be right, however that's how I felt. The inspiration for this film I'm told is a Danish work "the wild duck". Well the duck did it for me. As for the rest, so much can be written about it, or simply it can just be an every day sad story about things going wrong when people stop caring for each others. Yet I was surprised to be quite moved at some of the acting despite the lack of interest I seemed to have for the story. I guess I may be on my own with this assessment if I go by most others comment. In all fairness I have to state again that I can't follow a dialog that is not clear and loud enough so perhaps it's a little like reading a book with every third word missing and certainly affects my appreciation of movies when its dialog is crucial for the plot.

Much has been said already; slick direction, outstanding performances from the entire cast, especially those we are unfamiliar with on the screen and a brilliant story, 140 years old, that cements as the bed rock. (Rush is quite deliciously understated). I only have two objections. The editing style is unique (dialogue preceding the scene, or carrying over other parts that is not natural but interesting). However I feel the director relies on it too heavily, passing up the potential for good drama. This is especially noticeable in a confrontation between Sam Neill and Geoffrey Rush. The tension is passed over in favour of technique. An error. The other objection is that the director claims the play 'Inspires' the screenplay. Despite the changes, it's the same story. It should be 'based upon'. Its an obvious flex of ego. Minor points aside, this a top notch, captivating drama in all regards, showing the complexities of human relations, and that truth is not always the right option. Ah, the intricate web we often unintentionally weave.

So everyone in it are good, maybe even terrific. But what could have been a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions ends up being cowardly and lacking in conviction. In the end, just a lousy story that didn't know what story it wanted to tell.

In the grand old tradition of Australian films of the past 10 – 15 years, young theatre director/actor turned feature filmmaker Simon Stone's adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's play that has here become The Daughter is a sombre, bleak and sometimes hugely impressive film that's moments of greatness are sadly washed away by a tendency of over-dramatics and underdeveloped characters that hamper the films intentions to be the next big Australian drama kingpin. Stone who had the fortune of gathering some of Australia's best talent in the form of Geoffrey Rush, Sam Neill, Miranda Otto as well as American actor Paul Schneider in the key role as the thankless Christian certainly had the tools at his disposal to create something special (something that he did from all reports on stage with this same story) but while The Daughter is a polished local production thanks in no small part of Andrew Commis's noteworthy work as DOP and Mark Bradshaw's effective score as well as the to be expected work of the experience cast, you can't help but feel as though The Daughter doesn't ring true in its most important moments and some players within this family drama barely get a chance to breathe in the 90 minute run time. Christian may be our central figure here and his an unlikeable and tormented soul but relative newcomer Odessa Young gets the films biggest weight put upon her shoulders as the young and vulnerable Hedvig. Young's performance is solid without being overly impressive but Hedvig as a fictional creation is somewhat unengaging and with an important part to play in the stories proceedings as Hedvig and her family have to deal with unearthed secrets, Young can't bring the stories wannabe emotional payoff home despite the best attempts of those around her with a particularly disappointing final few minutes feeling rather underwhelming. With supports from the aforementioned Neill, Rush and Otto, The Daughter is never allowed to fall down to any detrimental levels and while the shipped in Schneider doesn't get great rewards from his Christian, Stone shows himself a director to watch out for with his handling of stars and the mostly unknown Ewen Leslie as the hard done by Oliver is another of The Daughter's participants that will likely benefit from a starring role in this well received production. Devoid of much light and frivolity, The Daughter is as glum as Australian films get and while this Home and Away with a budget is sometimes too much to bare or care, there's enough impressive filmmaking going on here that Stone's film is a worthwhile watch for all those seeking out their next dose of Australian drama, like only we Australian's can make. 3 animal sanctuary's out of 5

I found three themes particularly interesting in The Daughter: revenge,truth, and promiscuity. Revenge - Many years after having left home, Christian returns for his father's wedding. He accuses his father (Henry) of having cheated on his mother and of being responsible for her suicide. When the bride asks Henry what's going on, he does not want to bring his coming wedding in jeapoardy and refuses to tell her. Later, Christian calls his girlfriend and hears that their relationship is over. Devastated, he decides to reveal to his best friend Oliver that Henry has fathered Oliver and Charlotte's 16-years old daughter Hedvig. Having failed with his father, Christian's quest for vengeance finds its fulfillment when he destroys his friend's family. Truth - Revealing the truth destroys a family (that of Oliver, Charlotte and Hedvig). On the other hand, concealing the truth to his bride allows Henry to start a new family. Promiscuity - The dramas around which the movie is built are caused by several personages cheating on each other. Very remarkably, the cheating is principally the work of the female characters: - Walter (Oliver's father) tells the story of his wife who ran away with an artist - Paul's girlfriend (Grace) announces to Paul that she has been cheating on him when seeing her old boyfriend again - Oliver learns that his wife Charlotte had an affair with Christian's father and was in love with him at the time they were already together. To make things worse, she tells him that he is not the father of their daughter Hedvig, but that Henry is. Strengthening the promiscuous character of the female personages, the 16-year old Hedvig entices her boyfriend, Adam, to have sex with her. Whereas it is obvious that it is his first sexual experience, she has had sex before, but refuses to say so when he asks her. Later, she feels attracted to Christian and asks him to kiss her. On the male side, only Henry has cheated on all the females of his life. Finally, the patriarchal figure of Henry seems to be unaffected by all the misery he causes around him. At the beginning, he announces to his employees that his factory has to close, obliging all these families that have lived in this small town all their life to go somewhere else to find work. Nevertheless, his lifestyle does not seem to be in the least affected by that. When the financial fraud that he and Walter had organized together went wrong, Walter was indicted and went to jail, while Henry was left unscathed. As to his role in the death of his first wife and to his rejection of Charlotte when she was pregnant, it has not affected him either: he is going to remarry a woman half his age. What's more, the two deaths that mark the movie - that of his first wife and Hedvig's suicide - are indirectly attributed to him, but this does not disturb him: the hunt scene at the very beginning of the movie symbolizes his unrepentant stance.

The Daughter is a drama about a few days in the lives of two Australian families living in a rural timber mill town. The mill owner is taking a new wife just as he announces the closure of the mill. His son Christian flies in from the US for the wedding and reconnects with his childhood friend, Oliver. Oliver, a mill worker, lives with his wife, child and his decrepit father. An uncovered secret threatens to shatter the lives of everyone. The themes are of honesty and family connection as the story, immediately sincere with plenty of light moments, slowly builds into deadly seriousness. With pervasive and ominous masculine anger and alcoholism, The Daughter is a note-perfect portrayal of Australian small town life. Everyone makes mistakes and they can have devastating consequences for others. Damaged people are dangerous. The storytelling is masterful, a huge credit to writer, director Simon Stone and to Andrew Commis' creative cinematography. The editing is exquisite, courtesy of Veronika Jenet (The Piano, Rabbit-Proof Fence, Strangerland, Black Balloon, Angel At My Table, Snowtown). There are half a dozen great characters and the ensemble acting brings out the very best in both Geoffrey Rush and Sam Neill. Miranda Otto is magnificent. American Paul Schneider evokes the danger of the damaged man as does Aussie TV actor, Ewen Leslie as his long-lost mate. Young Odessa Young as Hedvig is the central character. She ably commands everyone's attention and seems bound for stardom. The Daughter is alternately poignant and powerful; a life-and-death drama, free of any suggestion of the theatricality of the play that inspired it, Henrik Ibsen's, The Wild Duck. This is daring, fierce, and rewarding cinema; as good as it gets. A must see. 5 stars Andrew Bunney, Let's Go To The Pictures, Three D Radio, Adelaide

The movie starts from nowhere and ends ... nowhere. Predictable and boring I don't recommend this movie to anyone. The theme is adequate for a movie made just after World War II when anything was acceptable. Rush, as expected, put on a marvelous performance as did the other cast members. Unfortunately, the director did a pretty lousy job. And this is evident throughout the movie.

This viewer did not believe a single character in this, not their jobs, their social status, their relationship to each other, their clunkily exposed past, the town/country they lived in...it's all highly manufactured, self-conscious drama for drama's sake with everyone concerned striving for tragedy or meaning, but looking faker and faker as one pretentious scene follows another. None of the personnel involved escape the curse of this contrived world from the very first scene.

Henry (Geoffrey Rush) is the master in a town where his logging company is the main attraction. His wife has passed away long ago and so he decides to remarry. This coincides with his decision to close the logging factory due to falling sales. The town is imploding but he wants to pull out all these stops for his wedding day. His estranged son, Christian, has also returned from America and immediately reconnects with old friends and this includes Oliver and his wife and daughter. He has long born a grudge with his father and as old tensions resurface so do nagging questions from the past. It is the answer to those questions that are the setting for the calamity of the future and a delve into the darkness that the past can often hold. This is a smouldering watch, all the performances are brilliant especially Odessa Young as Hedwig and Ewen Leslie as Oliver. We also have a fine performance from Rush and the ever reliable Sam Neil – both acting royalty in Australia. It keeps the tempo up almost from the start and is a credit to Screen Australia for investing in such a commendable piece of cinema.

Untangling the narrative thicket of The Daughter is not easy and the plot line is slow to unfold. It helps to take a step back and look at the story as a metaphorical collision between a single ray of truth and the lie that connects two families. It is only at this thematic level that we can understand why Henrik Ibsen's 1884 play The Wild Duck keeps reappearing on stage and screen. The Daughter is the latest re-imagining, with new characters and a modernised story that retains the glasshouse fragility of lives built upon secrets. It is timeless precisely because secrets are a part of life, yet some are so destructive that a few words can be a missile that shatters everything. A gunshot is fired at the start and end of the film, and in between is a high-tension wire that is slowly pulled tighter and tighter until it snaps. When a timber mill closes in an unnamed Australian town disgruntled workers are laid off while the aloof and wealthy owner Henry plans to marry his much younger former housekeeper. His estranged son Oliver returns for the wedding looking for someone to blame for his mother's suicide. When Oliver learns of his father's previous infidelity he feels compelled to reveal all. Tensions explode when Oliver tells his best friend Christian, as the affair involved his wife and now affects the relationship with his daughter Hedvig. One revelation of a buried truth triggers a chain of events that nobody can control. Although melodramatic and claustrophobic as family relationships can be, the story gathers pace in the second half, carried forward by outstanding acting from a stellar cast. It is beautifully photographed in Gothic style with haunting atmospherics amidst iconic landscapes reminiscent of The Piano (1993). Several overlapping scenes and restless camera viewpoints evoke the vulnerability of relationships teetering on lies. Often we are not sure who is the protagonist of the story as events unfold from various viewpoints but it is the daughter Hedvig who emerges as the innocent heroine tragically burdened by the sins of family. As she did in Looking for Grace (2015), Odessa Young plays the rebellious daughter and again her star shines brightly all over this film. Tense, challenging, and wonderfully crafted, this complex film mixes a psychological thriller with tragedy and its ending will leave you stunned.