The Marsh King's Daughter

Ridley delivers her strongest post-Star Wars turn with a deeply empathetic character who is, throughout the drama, on the cusp of a breakdown, or a breakthrough. It’s powerful work.

I was sitting back in my seat, nowhere near the edge of it. I would have liked to have inched towards the edge of it.

The tale is too tame, its savagery held too much in check to truly hold the audience in its thrall.

When we need the churning dread of an intimate tale of generational trauma, The Marsh King’s Daughter goes formulaic, and when we’re primed for exploitation sweats, it gets flabby.

The film’s pacing sags, undercutting the sense of urgency that makes a thriller.

The movie is so afraid of making viewers restless that it shies away from dramatizing anything it can’t resolve in 20 seconds or less.

While the exploration of the characters' identity follows trodden paths and is quite literal in psychological terms, the movie manages to deliver an effective story about survival instincts... [Full review in Spanish]

It's mildly enthralling, I mean there is a lot that works, but unfortunately the filmmakers couldn't quite nail the ending, which is too bad.

A strange misfire.

Neil Burger does a good job with the film's pace and in shepherding strong performances from his whole cast, especially Prince as the young Helena.