The Lost Daughter (2021)

The Lost Daughter marked the directorial debut from Maggie Gyllenhaal and became an instant hit with critics and audiences upon its release on Netflix. This unsettling psychological thriller is based on a popular book of the same name, and follows a middle-aged woman vacationing alone in Greece. Her name is Leda (played by the glorious Olivia Coleman) and we slowly learn about her life through flashbacks triggered by Leda's chance run-ins with a young mother also on vacation, played by Dakota Johnson. The young mother is traveling with her family - a huge group of Americans who take over the island and instantly butts heads with Leda on a beach when she refuses to move chairs so that they can all lounge together. Leda finds herself drawn to Johnson and her daughter, and she briefly endears herself to the American family (which we later find out is crime-affiliated) when she finds Johnson's daughter after she wanders off. Any sight of Johnson and her daughter, or any mention of her own two daughters, trigger flashbacks of Leda as a young mother. When her daughters were young, Leda was an ambitious comparative literature student, and her unhelpful husband (Jack Farthing) certainly didn't help Leda balance family life and work life. In fact her children are presented as almost parasitic, clinging to their mother and draining her of her freedom. Major spoiler: We eventually find out that Leda left her children for three years when they were young, and that she has no regrets about it. Yet she is moved to tears and experiences dizzy spells when talk of her daughters comes up. Oh, and she steals Johnson's daughter's doll for no good reason, which leads to a dramatic ending to the movie. The Lost Daughter is a rumination on motherhood, but we're here for the daddies! Jack Farthing has a sex scene with young Leda, and while the camera gets close to his cock, it's no cigar. Plus Oliver Jackson-Cohen, as Johnson's husband, appears shirtless on the beach looking like an absolute snack! You'll Greece your underwear!