Thread by @EnricaFerrara

If you think the #TheLostDaughter is a very good film - and I largely agree with you - then you should definitely read the book by #ElenaFerrante @europaeditions. It is exceptional! A few points of comparison between the film and the book. A thread 1/12

The lido is a borderland, the space in which nature and culture, past and present, (and a bunch of other binary structures) meet. In the book #TheLostDaughter this is suggested in two ways 1) the use of Neapolitan dialect; 2) the doll. 2/12

The dialect spoken by Nina's family brings Leda back to her roots against her will. It is a part of her nature-culture which she rejects. She is now a cultured person, a professor. Leda’s flashbacks re her mother & working class Neapolitan upbringing are absent in the film. 3/12

The doll. It is not clear in the film why Leda steals the doll. Leda says she used to have a similar doll, Mina. But in the book it is v clear that the doll is an object which binds mother and daughter! It represents and *is* that bond. Leda is attracted and repelled by it. 4/12

In their games, in the book, the doll is alternatively the mother Nina, the daughter Elena, and their bound, confused identities. Nani, the doll, is deliberately impregnated by Elena who feeds her a worm. 5/12

When the daughter gets lost on the beach - a true masterpiece both in the book and the film - Leda finds the child. In the book, the child cries and says to Leda “I can’t find my doll”. In the film, the child says “I can’t find my mammy”. The eerie sense of confusion is lost.6/12

When Leda steals the doll she embarks in a journey that will lead her to an understanding of motherhood. Was she a bad mother? Was she a good mother? Leda subconsciously knows that she will undo the bond between Nina & Elena. She wants Nina to be a “bad” mother like she was. 7/12

Fact is that the ideas of good and bad mother are cultural constructs. Leda was a mean mother but really, the only thing she wanted was a bit of space to study and develop herself as an individual. She wanted a career. Both the film and the book convey that well. 8/12

However, I don’t know about insisting on the fact that Leda was not sexually satisfied by her husband. This is emphasised in the film but certainly not a key point in the book. It distracts viewers from the main issue at stake, i.e. the husband was a pig, 9/12

he was only interested in his own career and did not allow any space for Leda. Because a “good” mother has to be happy to care for her children & husband, and desire nothing else. 10/12

Outstanding performances by #OliviaColman and #JessieBuckley - I loved @PaulMescalNews as a Dublin student helping out at the lido in the summer time. He could have come straight out of #NormalPeople - his vaguely bored & drunken dinner w Leda was spot on! 11/12

One last point: the bowl of rotten fruit, the squashed cicada, the leaky doll are all linked with Ferrante's poetics of disgust (wonderfully illustrated by @milkovastiliana) and her posthumanist poetics. You can listen to my short review on @RTEArena rte.ie/radio/radio1/c… 12/12

One very last point for #Ferrante fans. #OliviaColman dizzy spells are not just menopausal episodes, as one could infer from the film, but a reference to Ferrante poetics of #smarginatura and #frantumaglia #MyBrilliantFriend #TheLostDaughter

#TheLostDaughter by Elena #Ferrante is translated in English by the extraordinary #AnnGoldstein. The film @thelostdaughter has been magnificently directed by @mgyllenhaal!