Now, present day, Helena (Daisy Ridley) is married and has a family of her own. While trying to bury the past and reconcile her unfulfilled relationship with her late mother, Helena is forced to face her traumatic past again when she gets word that her father has escaped during a prison transport, and all signs point to his coming for her. Using all the hunting and survival training instilled in her, Helena must stop running, confront her father, and risk her life to save her family.
This is easily the best movie of Daisy Ridley’s career. In its roughly 100-minute run time, The Marsh King’s Daughter wastes no time keeping you engaged and, like a breath of fresh air, it reveals information to the viewer gradually throughout the film instead of spoon-feeding the audience exposition. Like a good book that keeps you reaching for the next chapter, this film has a thumping rhythm of mystery and surprise that makes every scene important to the character and plot. You will sigh with relief at being in the hands of filmmakers and writers who know what they are doing.
Garrett Hedlund as Stephen Pelletier in The Marsh King’s Daughter. Photo Credit: Philippe Bossé
“…wastes no time keeping you engaged.”
What I appreciated about this movie was how it captured trauma and selective memory. Helena is conflicted by the love and admiration she has for her father and the truth that he is a monster of a man. As the movie plays out, we start to see these memories of her father, whom she had loved and found to be loving, and her mother, whom she had resented and found to be weak and angry, begin to shift. We see and feel Helena’s discovery that she is not simply the product of rape or a “little shadow.” She’s a wife, a mother, and a daughter to a woman of quiet strength and self-sacrifice. Now, some movies butcher this approach by just throwing a curveball at the 11th hour to force a twist (i.e., the unexpected twin in The Glass Onion). Still, this film seamlessly uses memory as a plot device that gradually becomes clearer and clearer as the story unfolds.
Daisy is supported by a talented cast of Ben Mendelsohn, Garret Hedlund, and Gil Birmingham, all of whom turn in great performances. Could there have been more for these characters to do? Sure, but the film is based on a book, so if you wanted a 13 hour+ reading experience with these characters, you have that option. What you get with the film, however, is more than enough.
"…the best movie of Daisy Ridley’s career."
