The Big Picture

The Marsh King’s Daughter drowns out the talent of Daisy Ridley through a directionless and forgettable thriller. Ridley’s brief moments of promise are overshadowed by an empty story that lacks anything resembling emotional heft. The film feels like a mishmash of far better thrillers, with drab visuals and a predictable ending that lacks any sort of impact.

Near the beginning of Neil Burger’s The Marsh King’s Daughter, the often well-acted through wearisome psychological thriller starring Daisy Ridley, we observe her character going about the mundanity of an office job. For just these brief moments, it almost feels like we are catching a glimpse of the more restrained excellence of her yet-to-be-released film Sometimes I Think About Dying which premiered back at Sundance. Though they can hardly be called thrilling, there is something to just letting Ridley inhabit a scene that is quiet and built around the little details. It is as if we are being taken into a world through the small moments that will soon become shattered. It is proof that Ridley has not just the talent but the presence to guide us through even the most choppy of stories. Just give her room to work with a focused narrative and you might have something at least serviceable.

The Marsh King’s Daughter Release Date November 3, 2023 Director Neil Burger Cast Ben Mendelsohn, Daisy Ridley, Gil Birmingham, Brooklynn Prince Rating R Runtime 108 minutes Main Genre Drama Genres Crime, Drama, Mystery Production Company Black Bear Pictures, Anonymous Content
Unfortunately, The Marsh King’s Daughter is a film that seems hellbent on drowning Ridley out by any means possible. This has become a bit of a pattern for her be it with the piece of junk that was the most recent Star Wars film The Rise of Skywalker, other recent sci-fi flops that not even she could save, or the awful Hamlet fanfiction that no one asked for. Still, Ridley has remained a strong part of each as she has proven time and time again that she is capable of bringing gravitas to even the most flimsy of films. In this, the trouble is that these brief moments of promise account for no more than a fraction of the otherwise forgettable thriller that never does much of anything worth remembering. For all the ideas it gestures at and emotions Ridley tries to bring to the part, it is empty to the point of being translucent.

What Is ‘The Marsh King’s Daughter’ About?
Image via Lionsgate

Based on the novel of the same name by Karen Dionne and written by Elle Smith and Mark L. Smith, it takes us into the fractured life of Helena. Played in her youth by Brooklynn Prince of the fantastic Florida Project and as an adult by Ridley, her life has become defined by the trauma of her early years. Specifically, her abusive father Jacob (Ben Mendelsohn) abducted her and her mother. He then held her in the woods until they managed to get free of him. Jacob goes to prison but, in one of the film’s most bafflingly constructed sequences, breaks out. Now with a family of her own, Helena must outrun her past while protecting the life she has worked so hard to build. This will be even more challenging as her cardboard cutout of a husband Stephen (Garrett Hedlund) and the well-meaning though superficially written stepfather Clark (Gil Birmingham) seem to be dismissive of most of her concerns (some of this due to plot contrivances casting doubt on her) leaving her facing most of them alone.

This is a fitting way of encapsulating the film itself as it feels like Ridley herself is having to battle against the trajectory it takes us down. This requires being rather vague, even as the trailer shows everything that happens, as it occasionally seems like it is trying to play this as a mystery to unravel. It even goes as far as to make it seem as though some of this could be something that is playing out in Helena’s mind, an insulting implication made more so by how the film takes its sweet time with this, before becoming a blunt confrontation with her past.

When viewed alongside Berger’s last film, the occasionally visually interesting though largely inert sci-fi thriller Voyagers, one wonders what it was that drew him to this one. Though disappointment would be too strong a word, at least it felt like there was some sort of vision to his prior film. This feels lifted from far better thrillers, thrown in a blender, and haphazardly spread all over. This refers to not just the way the story is constructed, but the way it is all shot as it looks persistently drab. That is even before there is one shift to what looks like it could be GoPros as characters roll down a hill. It makes it all feel even more visually flat.

‘The Marsh King’s Daughter’ Has a Dull Thud of an Ending
Image via Lionsgate

This culminates in a conclusion that is both basically what you would expect and entirely without any narrative impact. It is not always a problem for a film to assemble its pieces in a predictable fashion, but it still needs to execute on making them feel alive in some way. Even as Ridley and Mendelsohn eventually share some slightly more dynamic scenes together, this only comes towards the end as they are mostly confined to flashbacks that give the horrifying robotic adaptation Five Nights at Freddy’s a run for their money in how mundane they feel.

The strengths of Birmingham also go wasted despite him being a crucial counterbalance of a character actor. By the time we bring all of their stories to a close, there is nothing the film has going for it besides just tying it all up far too neatly before halfheartedly wandering away. Any emotional heft the talented performers bring in these moments is both far too little and far too late. While Ridley gives her all to a more thoughtful and nuanced performance, The Marsh King’s Daughter remains a film on a directionless journey to nowhere. Even with the commitment of its lead, it just gets lost in the woods before falling flat on its face.

Rating: D-

The Marsh King’s Daughter is playing in theaters in the U.S. starting November 3. Click here for showtimes near you.