Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1437291
48 C I N E M O N T A G E F E A T U R E running time of just over two hours. Al- though "The Lost Daughter" takes its time to reach its destination, neither director nor editor had a set length in mind when cutting began. "We just naturally cut down, cut down, cut down until we found, 'OK, this is the ideal time,'" Gonçalves said. "It's not a fast-paced movie by any stretch of the imagination. We screened the film for a very small amount of people, and there was some feedback, sort of arbitrarily people saying, 'Just cut 15 minutes.' It's like, 'OK, great— what 15 minutes?'" The leisurely, unhurried pace allowed more time for the audience to get to know, and enter the consciousness of, Leda. "[This] was the appropriate time to spend with the characters and to tell the story," Gonçalves said. In this, as in so many other things, Gyl- lenhaal trusted the judgment of the editor who was, by then, not merely an editor to help guide her feature debut but a trusted partner in the postproduction process. "I said, 'I don't want to make a long movie,'" Gyllenhaal said. "He said, 'All right—well, let's just make the right-length movie.' Ob- viously, there's going to be a point at which it's no longer compelling, and we don't want that. But it doesn't matter what the number is, and he was very clear about that with me from the very beginning." Gonçalves reflects on the experience, and the final product, with pride. "I'm so happy that people are reacting and under- standing the film," he said. "I couldn't be more grateful." ■ Peter Tonguette is a frequent contributor to CineMontage. Olivia Colman as Leda. 'I'M SO HAPPY THAT PEOPLE ARE REACTING AND UNDERSTANDING THE FILM.' P H O T O : YA N N I S D R A KO U L I D I S / N E T F L I X