EXCLUSIVE: In addition to a host of previously set worldwide territories, Netflix, in a deal with Entertainment One, has acquired rights to Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Lost Daughter in the UK, Benelux and Germany. Gyllenhaal’s feature directing debut will bow on the streaming service on December 31.
Adapted by Gyllenhaal from Elena Ferrante’s best-selling 2006 novel, The Lost Daughter world premiere at the Venice Film Festival in September and scooped the Best Screenplay prize. The story follows a woman whose beach vacation takes a dark turn when she begins to confront the troubles of her past. The film was shot in Greece in 2020.
Olivia Colman, Jessie Buckley, Dakota Johnson, Peter Sarsgaard, Paul Mescal, Oliver Jackson-Cohen and Ed Harris star.
The Lost Daughter has also played the Telluride, New York, London and Lumière Festivals. Reviews have been glowing with a 94% Fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes. In Deadline’s own review, Pete Hammond wrote, Gyllenhaal “has crafted a memorable first film” that presents “a study of motherhood in all its raw complexity” and an “aching portrait of a person coming to terms with the past in ways that are powerful to behold in a setting where this kind of revelation is most unexpected.”
At Deadline’s recent Contenders London event, Johnson remarked, “Often as a female actor you are trying to be ‘something’, something enticing, attractive or sexy or whatever — it can be boring. But this was really raw, open and messy. It felt so human, like the truth of being a human woman.”
Buckley described the film as “unnervingly raw and honest”, adding, “I haven’t seen a film or read a script before which expresses the truth of what it is to be a woman so well.”
Alongside Gyllenhaal, producers are Talia Kleinhendler and Osnat Handelsman-Keren for Pie Films; Charles Dorfman for Samuel Marshall Films; and Endeavor Content.
Other overseas distributors for The Lost Daughter include Empire (South Africa), Spentzos (Greece), Sena (Iceland), Bim (Italy), Vertigo (Spain), NOS Lusomundo (Portugal), Svensk (Scandinavia), Falcon (Indonesia), Green Narae (South Korea) and Salim Ramia (Middle East).