By Keith Walther
The month of November begins with a suspense/thriller worthy of the big screen. Even though the film follows a well-worn path into predictability, “The Marsh King’s Daughter” plays on paranoia to heighten the suspense and deliver a satisfying filmgoing experience. Based on the 2017 novel of the same name by Karen Dionne, the two main stars of the film help to elevate an otherwise simplistic screenplay.
Helena Pelletier (Daisy Ridley) had a very unorthodox childhood, living in a remote cabin surrounded by swampy marshes with a father she adored as her hero and a mother she resented for not loving him. Little did she know that her father, Jacob Holbrook (Ben Mendelsohn), was known as the Marsh King who kidnapped her mother and forced her to bear their child. When Helena’s mother (Caren Pistorius) saw an opportunity to finally take her daughter away from this madman after many years living under his watchful rule, she jumped into action, leading to his arrest.
Fast forward years later, Helena is all grown up living under a different identity with her own husband and daughter, her mother has passed away, and the Marsh King is still incarcerated. However, a daring escape upends her reformed life and paranoia sets in as she realizes the inevitable encounter that is to come. Helena won’t be his naïve ‘little shadow’ Jacob remembers her as. She’s a strong mother now with an iron will to do whatever it takes to protect her daughter just like her own mother did for her.
The last truly great film Neil Burger directed was “The Illusionist” back in 2006. Since then, his successes have been few and far between with flops like “Divergent” and most recently “Voyagers” tainting his credibility. With “The Marsh King’s Daughter,” Burger returns to directly adapting a novel into film, and while readers of the book will tell you this movie is a poor adaptation, he does enough to create a compellingly suspenseful ride that will fully invest its audience in its admittedly foreseeable and forced conclusion. The flow and feel are reminiscent of “Sleeping with the Enemy,” just not as good.
Burger successfully incorporates quality cinematography and a complimentary score that raises the tension to a palpable level even though viewers may already be aware of what is about to happen. Mitigating these positive attributes is the questionable character development or lack thereof. The Marsh King seems to be a moniker that strikes fear with the evil it represents, yet for the first half of the film he’s portrayed as an almost likeable character who is a loving father, teaching his daughter valuable lessons and words of wisdom. Then the other supporting characters who play integral roles in the story are poorly developed to the point that their influence is completely muted.
The two leads enhance the production value with English actress Daisy Ridley and Australian actor Ben Mendelsohn, both of whom mask their natural accents unnoticeably. Ridley, best known for her breakout role as Rey in the most recent “Star Wars” trilogy, is able demonstrate some versatility with this deeper character. She provides some heartfelt emotion, showing her inner struggle with the twisted memories of her childhood that painted her parents much differently than reality. Mendelsohn, also a “Star Wars” alumni having played the villain in “Rogue One,” plays a less sophisticated yet deeper kind of antagonist in this film. He does a brilliant job of twisting morality to fit his character’s whims, making his character dangerous in the physical and mental sense.
“The Marsh King’s Daughter” won’t win any awards, but it is certainly better than most of the films released last month. Good acting and good suspense will help you overlook the weaknesses and allow you to have a satisfying filmgoing experience.
This movie earns
