The Daughter is in official competition at the 2015 London Film Festival. It is unlikely to win. Written and directed by Simon Stone and based on Ibsen’s The Wild Duck, it is a slow examination of the effects of secrecy and infidelity on a family in rural Australia.
Geoffrey Rush plays Henry, the ageing owner of a failing sawmill that is the biggest employer in the local town. He is getting remarried to his much younger house-keeper, which brings his son Christian (Paul Schneider) home for the first time since his mother died years before. He renews his friendship with old school mate Oliver (Ewen Leslie), who is now married and has a teenage daughter, Hedvig. The old friends are happily reunited for a while, before secrets start being discovered that change life forever for everyone involved.
Director Stone demonstrates a predilection for cutting the sound and letting the action continue with a musical accompaniment. His shots are mostly well-chosen (though one with a camera clamped to the roof of a moving police car is jarring). Australian forests provide some visually majestic backdrops, contrasting with the decrepit unnamed town in which the action talks place.
The three male leads demonstrate realistic and believable relationships. Henry’s solitary figure, wealthy but despised and confused is matched at the other end of the generational spectrum by Odessa Young’s vacillating Hedvig. Sam Neill plays Walter, a previous business associate of Henry’s who has spent time in jail for financial crimes that Henry may or may not have known about. But much in the script doesn’t ring true, whether it be Hedwig’s sexual advances, Christian’s sudden need to divulge secrets, or Oliver’s reactions as events unfold.
The Daughter scores highly for tackling issues, explaining that unhappiness is man made and crosses generations. Man hands on misery to man through selfish, uncaring decisions and the wounds run deep. But you don’t need a 96 minute film to tell you that. Larkin’s poem was much more succinct.
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