Gyllenhaal’s directorial debut turns Elena Ferrante’s dark tale about a seemingly idyllic Greek beach holiday into a menacing riddle of the sands
’s short source novel, it’s an enigmatic psychodrama that seems to teeter permanently on the brink of cataclysm. The fact that the plot itself stays largely within the confines of down-to-earth domestic reality merely amplifies the sense that we are wading into uncharted waters, and might at any moment be swept out to sea.
Olivia Colman is in her element as Leda, a middle-aged woman on a beach vacation in Greece that she insists on calling a “working holiday”. Leda is a professor of languages, a woman who understands the nuances of translating poetry, but who remains distinctly tight-lipped about her own personal situation. At first she seems content to lounge in the sun with her books in what looks like a little corner of paradise.
The fact that Buckley and Colman seem a somewhat mismatched onscreen pair matters less than it might. Indeed, it’s a credit to both that they breathe such individual life into the figure of Leda, even if the loose ends of their respective stories never quite match up. As always, Colman manages to express deep wellsprings of emotion with few words and fewer gestures – her face telegraphing great swathes of anguish beneath polite smiles and annoyed glances.
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