Alone on a seaside vacation, Leda (Olivia Colman) becomes consumed with a young mother and daughter as she watches them on the beach. Unnerved by their compelling relationship, (and their raucous and menacing extended family), Leda is overwhelmed by her own memories of the terror, confusion and intensity of early motherhood. An impulsive act shocks Leda into the strange and ominous world of her own mind, where she is forced to face the unconventional choices she made as a young mother and their consequences.

In her first film as writer-director, Gyllenhaal transforms Elena Ferrante's often enigmatic fiction into a drama that lives dynamically on screen. The rhythms of the narrative, the assured visual language and the precise performances she pulls from each actor move with the confidence of a veteran filmmaker. D: Maggie Gyllenhaal, US, 2021