THE LOST DAUGHTER loses its heart.

The artists creating THE LOST DAUGHTER have done great work and will undoubtedly do so again. However, in this instance, they have squandered a great deal to tell a story with a central character who is perhaps heartless? Or who has lost their way? You want to sympathize, but at some point, enough is enough.

Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley perfectly play older and younger versions of Leda, the central character. The younger version is a scholar and mother who often resents her pre-teen daughters and husband for keeping her from her love of literature. There are strong suggestions that one has died.

The older Leda now has the solitude she craves as her ex-husband has custody. But a boatload of rude tourists – Americans? - arrive daily at her beach retreat with kids who need affection and lovers who demand attention, and betrayals are in abundance. We, like Leda, find them exhausting.

Only the kindly maintenance man, played elegantly by Ed Harris, comes across as someone with whom you wouldn't mind spending an evening. The large ensemble also features Dakota Johnson. Peter Sarsgaard, Jack Farthing, and Paul Mescal. I did like tremendously the music by Dickon Hinchliffe

Maggie Gyllenhaal makes her directorial debut and is credited with the screenplay alongside Elena Ferrante, who wrote the lauded source material.

It is tough to spend the evening watching the work of great artists when what remains is a hollow memory of a lost opportunity.

Beware, there are a lot of spoilers in the trailer.