The Marsh King’s Daughter

By: Malasha Parker

A sem-thriller beginning in the woods of an old home, The Marsh King’s Daughter opens in an ominous way as Jacob (Ben Mendelsohn) – the Marsh King – tells his daughter, Helena (Daisy Ridley), how to hunt. The tips and tricks are spoken through a conversation between father and daughter as they move through the process of hunting a deer. Directed by Neil Burger, The Marsh King’s Daughter delivers the story of the relationship between a daughter who only knows how to love her father, even though her trust in him has been tainted by a shocking kidnapping.

At the beginning of the film Helena is being taught to hunt. When she misses the deer, her father moves on nonchalantly, then gives her a marking on her body to indicate another missed kill. These markings seem to be abusive to the viewer, but also like this is maybe something the family does normally. While it is a typical activity for them, we soon find out that this family is not just living in a secluded house. We eventually find out that these tattoos that Jacob was imprinting on Helena is his twisted way of marking her, but the bond between Helena and her father is too strong for her to just want to abandon him. When Helena is no longer with her father, she still feels the need to be with him because of their strong bond. The end of the movie brings Helena and her father back together. Helena finds him in the woods where she used to live and they share a moment where we see that Helena’s feelings towards her father are still complicated. Even though she changed to get away from her father, the Marsh King, she is still his “Little Shadow” in some way. 

Daisy Ridley presents a performance that shows the strangeness of a woman who went through a traumatic experience in their childhood, while also showing some vulnerability and mundaneness in her stature. She essentially carries the movie along with the mystery of her father’s whereabouts after escaping his prison transfer. Ben Mendelsohn as Jacob Holbrook also adds a great mysterious presence to the film. 

I enjoyed the opening and the end of the film the most because it showed a true sense of the meaning behind all of the hunting tips and tricks that Helena learned when she was younger. The movie delivers on some of the emotional notes and the voiceovers add the most by providing the true feelings behind the character’s actions. While we never really understand why Helena’s father did what he did, we see how what he did in the past affected his future with his daughter. Additionally, the directing choices by Bujrger were excellent in some parts and lacked focus in others. Although, when the ending fight starts there are a few awkward angles that take away from the scene as a whole and add nothing to the film. While I can understand that the shots may be indicative of a hunter’s point of view, it just doesn’t hit the mark. 

Though The Marsh King’s Daughter as a whole gave a lackluster lead up until the final stand off, it was able to still give some unique moments that added to the eerie vibe of the film. The movie isn’t a must watch, by any means, but if you want to see Daisy Ridley in more action scenes then I’d say give it a shot. It is definitely not one of Neil Burger’s best directed films, but I enjoyed it enough even though I knew how it would end.