Cast help keep gritty drama intact
They say New Zealand’s national cinema is full of darkness and woe (and yes, even its comedies: just consider Boy and Wilderpeople) – but it’s hard to beat those Aussies when it comes to devising grim, gritty dramas set in lush landscapes, where extraordinary circumstances befall ordinary people.
The Daughter tells the story of a happy family whose idyllic life is torn apart when an old friend returns to town. You don’t need to know more than that – the film’s many pleasures include the rapid establishment of the disruptive external force and then the swift unravelling of the carpet which is eventually pulled out from under its protagonists.
The plot twists and turns, perhaps for some in a direction that seems obvious, but it is so well played-out (and so fast! – an exceptionally economical hour and a half) that you don’t mind.
Strikingly, most of the dialogue is delivered off-screen, often with character voices overlaid on to scenes which are out of sync – an incredibly efficient method of conveying everything we need to know without wasting time showing and telling.
It all makes for a terribly accomplished first screen feature by writer-director Simon Stone, who took Henrik Ibsen’s play The Wild Duck as inspiration and has effortlessly transposed it to smalltown Australia.
The early 19th-century sensibilities of the tale work well in a contemporary setting, as the heartbreak as its core is as perennial as love.
To that end, the characters’ tribulations might seem a little on-the-nose (in the case of the titular Hedvig, it seems that when it rains, it pours) and there is a moment where the film threatens to crumble into histrionics.
But with a cast including a dour Geoffrey Rush and the excellent Miranda Otto, plus a grounded supporting role by our very own Sam Neill, Ibsen’s reputation as a father of realism is honoured by Stone’s laudable script and his actors’ ability to deal with terrible revelations in a credible way.
The central male friendship is heartfelt without descending into the dudeness of bromance, and although the winding narrative may arrive just where you anticipate, its impact is no less powerful.