The Daughter (2015)

Best movie of this year hands down!

Please don't spend money on this.

Let's be realistic.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Hedvig Finch (Odessa Young) is the daughter of Charlotte (Miranda Otto) and Oliver (Ewen Leslie). They run into his old friend Christian (Paul Schneider) and reconnects with him. Christian has returned to town for his wealthy father Henry (Geoffrey Rush) who is marrying a much younger woman. Hedvig has boyfriend Adam (Wilson Moore). Walter (Sam Neill) is Oliver's father. A secret is revealed and Hedvig's world falls apart.This is an adaptation of the 19th century play The Wild Duck. The storytelling is bit muddled at first. I don't know much about filmmaker Simon Stone but he seems to be a newcomer to directing cinema. It shows in the scattered nature of the plot flow. What he seems well adapted to is drawing out good performances from his actors. There is the big climatic scene with Hedvig and Oliver. Throughout, the acting is top shelf. I would reorganize the sequencing of events by doing the reveal earlier and Adam's departure later. It's all about Hedvig and how her life falls apart. Adam leaving should be the last straw. There are powerful moments in this movie. A more experienced filmmaker would be able to construct a more compelling flow of events.

I think this is the first review I have written on IMDb. I can't believe this movie is only rated 6.8. I haven't seen a play or read any book upon which this film is based, so I am rating this film based purely on its own merits. This is one of the most powerful movies I have seen in a long while. Performances were excellent. It's not often a movie leaves me stunned. Highly recommended

Review: The Daughter — by BEV QUESTAD — Edvard Munch did not paint just one version of "The Scream." He painted four. His essential Norwegian character cannot avert his eyes from life's true circumstance and man's grotesque nature within it. He chooses not to fabricate an illusion to help disguise the depths of human failure, but starkly faces it in raw horror. Ibsen, writing 10 years before Munch paints, sets the truth and the illusion side by side and shows that in telling the truth, in facing what is, the horror is too great for us to handle. But like a determined, honest Norwegian, he still courageously drags us to the well, the dark abyss, and forces our heads to look down and see the truth as it is. This dark Nordic perspective is richly thought-provoking and certainly reflective of our current crazy political world. But is a film based on painful exposure something we'd like to see? So no, I didn't like the film at all despite the fact that is excellent. It's not that it isn't perfectly executed with a natural dialogue, explosive emotion and charged casting. It's not that every part of this film doesn't faithfully reflect the original Ibsen work, "The Wild Duck." It's that the truth, without the lies we contrive to make it through another day, can be too painful to bear and hard to watch on the screen. But why did Simon Stone, a young 32-year-old writer-director, who has already produced a documentary about himself, "The Talented Mr. Stone," get so deeply involved with this particular project? What is his fascination with Ibsen, and why did the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts award him the prize for best adaptation of a screenplay for this tortured production? At age 12,after an argument with his father, Stone witnessed his father, head of the molecular biology and biochemistry department at Monash University in Australia,die from a heart attack. He has stated that he has "always been attracted to stories that try and explore a family in crisis because that was the defining experience of my life." But since when does a pre-pubescent outburst kill a parent? Take this confounded confusion, passion, and guilt and you get Ibsen and Munch, the Norwegian specialists in true life horror and torment. Put them on the screen and you get Stone. Stone is obviously brilliant on many levels. "The Daughter" is too. Subtly modernized in a defunct lumbermill town, each character obfuscates a hidden life circumstance with an exterior story of cozy domestic bliss. Dad is marrying his young housekeeper, his son has flown in from the US waiting for his wife to join him, a boarder on the property is supported to explore his passion for photographic art, the boarder's wife and daughter, the loves of the photographer's life, enjoy the generous property woodlands and a grandfather dotes on his grand-daughter. All of this is set to parallel a contrived little garden where rescued bunnies and a wounded duck seemingly enjoy care and safety. But the American-ex pat, our Ibsen/Munch, the son who will soon have a much younger beautiful step-mother, becomes suspicious. Why did his mother die? What were her last thoughts? Who was the prior housekeeper? Who belongs here? Who is who? He seeks the truth and when he finds it thinks everyone must know – that it will be liberating. And then he gets a phone call. Why isn't his wife here yet? Is the truth really that great to know? Kino Lorber presents the US release of "The Daughter," an official selection at the Toronto, Venice, Melbourne and Sydney film festivals. This adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's "The Wild Duck" stars Academy Award winner Geoffrey Rush and opened at the Cinema Village in NYC on Jan. 27, and will open at the Laemmle Royal in Los Angeles on Feb. 3. A national release will follow.

A very surprising Aussie film. Not all the Australian film makes big at the world stage. So this film was not known to many people, but I am lucky to watch this. The film was based on the Norwegian play called 'The Wild Duck'. It was adapted several times for the screen, but this is the latest and a modernised version. The first film for the director and he was amazing in handling the screenplay as well. Obviously I did not know anything about the film. The cast looked good and also the storyline, so that's my reason to watch it. It began like a simple drama about a family who are going through a difficult time after the wood mill was shut down in their small town. Their's daughter, Hedvig, who is studying in the high school worries that she's going to lose her boyfriend if they move out of the town. That's not it, the narration had layers like from other people surrounding this small family and their perspective too has a big impact on the storytelling.Not just this family, but many from the town were out of the job and that leads to some unexpected decisions. Another family who ran that wood mill for nearly a century, welcomes their son, Christian from the United States who is having a tough time with his girlfriend and also to attend his father's wedding. He accidentally meets his childhood friend which is actually a Hedvig's father. They spend lots of time together and that's where a new issue arises. Christian reveals some hidden truth for the decades between their two families. Everything breaks loose and becomes impossible to fix it. From all this, the daughter is the one who directly get affected, but to learn how is why you should watch this film.You won't immediately understand the meaning of the title. The film very smartly progresses like bit by bit with lots of suspense around. The best part is, it never reveals the actual secret at any length of the film, but still the viewers going understand the situation very clearly. That's really amazing, particularly the writing being so clever. I don't know the original material which is more than a hundred year old, but I loved this to tell the story in a smart way."You do not need to be scared of the truth."The characters were the best part of the story. The switching time was excellently done. Like the whole film is not intended to deal with one particular issue, but multiple. Everybody had something to deal with, some were personal and some were concerned for their whole family. The story always engaged with details, so there's no time for relaxation for the viewers. In the first half it succeeds to keep everything neat, despite the story developed from different angles. Because the end pulls them all together to conclude the tale on high. High mean, neither happy or sad, the timing when the twist takes place was a perfect setting.If you are a melodrama fan, this must not be missed. I haven't seen a good tearjerker for a long time and then I found this one unexpectedly. I did not know the film would turn this way, but that's one of the reasons why I liked it a lot. The twist at the final act was kind of predictable if you were focused enough in the early part, but nobody gets a clear picture of how it all ends. That's the point. Despite how the film characters react when the suspense was revealed, we have our own respond too, but unable to deliver where it requires. That is funny, but the film gets very serious towards the final segment and you get no time to react, you will be like unmoved till the end credits roll up. But sensing a tragedy is certain.I recently saw 'Fathers & Daughter', that I anticipated something what this film offered. The story lines are completely different from these two films, but that father and daughter relationship thing, I liked very much from this one. Especially the emotions are the most crucial to narrate the tale and this film was way better in that perspective. Comparison between these two titles only on the sentimental side, other than that it's not fair to bring a debate on them. Anyway, both are the fine melodrama.This film definitely would appeal strongly to the family audience and I highly recommend it to them. There's no strong nudity or the sex scenes, but thematically it goes some length to record the required event. Other than those couple of parts, this is a film for everybody. Very satisfied with the overall film. I might not consider it my favourite, but very close to be called one. Like I said the story was thoroughly written, so I'm feeling this film won't go unnoticed. I am not talking about it would find its audience, but the remakes. European, Korean, Bollywood, even a Hollywood version might come. So fingers crossed, but I suggest this one to watch if you are convinced with my review.8.5/10