A highlight on the fall festival circuit last year, stopping by both TIFF and Venice, was Simon Stone‘s directorial debut The Daughter. As a longtime theater director, Stone amassed a strong ensemble for the drama, including Geoffrey Rush, Ewen Leslie, Paul Schneider, Miranda Otto, Anna Torv, Odessa Young, and Sam Neill. Kino Lorber picked up the rights for the film, which follows a family harboring a secret that threatens to tear them apart, and have now released the U.S. trailer, which hints they’ll be releasing it soon.
We said in our review, “The acting is superb, headed by two Antipodean heavyweights in Rush and Neill, both in restrained less-is-more modes. The 16-year-old Odessa Young, as the titular daughter Hedvig, is a passionate addition exploring a new-found sexuality and shooting cans with her boyfriend using her grandfather’s shotgun – one that has a role to play in forthcoming events. But she also cares for her own sanctuary of injured animals – a duck mending its wings proves a symbolic anchor — proving Young has a delicate nature that belies her outgoing, pink-haired features.”
Check out the trailer below.
After a fifteen-year absence, Christian (Paul Schneider) returns home to rural New South Wales for the marriage of his father, Henry (Academy Award winner Geoffrey Rush), the wealthy owner of the local mill that’s been the economic bedrock of the community for generations. Christian gets reacquainted with his old friend Oliver (Ewen Leslie) and finds himself drawn to Oliver’s family, which includes wife Charlotte (Miranda Otto), daughter Hedvig (Odessa Young), and father-in-law Walter (Sam Neill). When Henry announces the imminent closure of the mill, it sends a quake through the community, particularly Oliver’s family, and the subsequent fissures release bitter secrets.
The Daughter will be released in the U.S. by Kino Lorber.