Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

The Marsh King's Daughter Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 5, 2024

How exactly does something become a viral sensation? And how exactly does that sensation fade almost as quickly as it appeared? Sometime during the late summer months of 2017 my social media feeds were suddenly full of (largely) women talking about some book called The Marsh King's Daughter, with several asking whether they should even continue reading if the story's heroine ended up dead (in other words, they were asking for spoilers). That particular answer won't be overtly mentioned in this review, but the question at least hints that the novel offered a visceral tale of a veritable damsel in distress, in this case a young woman being raised "off the grid" who later discovers she's actually the product of a father who had more or less kidnapped her mother and kept them all isolated but definitely in captivity, in a kind of "wide open spaces" riff on certain elements in Room, albeit in this case with a focus on the child rather than the mother.

Helena (played by Brooklynn Prince in early childhood sequences, and then by Daisy Ridley as an adult) is introduced as the "Little Shadow" of her father Jacob (Ben Mendelsohn), a man she obviously idolizes and seeks to emulate in his knowledge of the great outdoors. Ben seems to be one of those "survivalist" types wanting nothing to do with what is commonly called "society", but even in the early going there are hints of something a bit more nefarious going on, especially in brief moments involving Helena's mother Beth (Caren Pistorius). Ben's cardinal rule is that "the family must be protected", and his zeal in that effort actually leads to his downfall and arrest, which in turn finally allows Helena to rejoin the world.

The Marsh King's Daughter then segues to Helena as a rather amazingly well adjusted adult married to Stephen (Garrett Hedlund), with a daughter of her own named Marigold (Joey Carson). Her seeming happily ever after is shattered when a slew of police show up to her house one day and inform her Ben has broken out of prison and may be on the hunt for a little "family reunion". That sets up the bulk of the rest of the story, where Helena is perhaps a human analog to the sort of prey that Ben taught her to track in the wild.

The film's premise is, as mentioned above vis a vis similarities to properties like Room, somewhat rote (which is kind of frightening in and of itself, when you think about it), but there are still moments of "high anxiety" sprinkled throughout a film that arguably could have used a bit of judicious trimming to keep things more streamlined and visceral. The second act in particular introduces at least one obvious "red shirt" (to use a completely unconnected reference), while attempting to perhaps unwisely offer some tidbits on Ben's background as well as more appropriately Helena's terror that her own daughter may be in peril.

The Marsh King's Daughter has some glorious if anachronistic (considering the emotional subtext) scenery, but things just never gel completely in this story. And that's where the second question I opened this review with comes into play. The book version of The Marsh King's Daughter was a significant bestseller, and judging by my own social media feed certainly was met with considerable response by any number of people, which would seem to have augured a "big" film. Instead, this project evidently went through some kind of "development hell", with various stars and creative staff coming and going, and a long delayed release date (perhaps exacerbated by a pandemic). It looks like the film pretty much tanked at the box office, and it's perhaps salient to note that Lionsgate, a studio that doesn't shirk from hawking any number of largely forgettable direct to video offerings, provided no press support for this (at least that I received).

The Marsh King's Daughter Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Marsh King's Daughter is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. The closing credits roll offers only a Panavision credit, and neither Panavision's site nor the IMDb have more technical information as of the writing of this review, so I can't authoritatively state what camera was used or what resolution the DI was. That said, both cinematographer Alwin H. Küchler and director Neil Burger previously collaborated on Divergent, which utilized Arri Alexas, and to my eyes this has the look of that capture technology. As can be seen in some of the screenshots accompanying this review, the outdoor material has been rather aggressively graded towards yellow-green tones, which give things a slightly unreal appearance, though detail levels are typically excellent, with the possible exception of a few passing moments in water and some very dimly lit nighttime material. The palette warms considerably once things move on to Helena's adult situation, and at least in some of the opening moments of that section, things are much more "natural" looking in terms of nicely suffused blue skies and a somewhat more realistic accounting of both interior and exterior locations. Palette and grading aside, fine detail is often quite excellent, to the point that those on the squeamish side of things may cringe at a few of the depictions on tap. I'm still not sure about the resolution of the DI, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was 4K, considering the general level of fine detail levels in particular.

The Marsh King's Daughter Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Marsh King's Daughter features an effectively immersive DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that starts out with some almost frightening "thumps" from Adam Janota Bzowski's interesting score, but which regularly engages the side and rear channels with a glut of ambient environmental sounds, probably understandably most noticeably in the many forested sequences. The film has its fair share of gunfire, which allows for some explosive low frequency effects. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English and Spanish subtitles are available.

The Marsh King's Daughter Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary with Director Neil Burger


• The Art of Survival: Making The Marsh King's Daughter (HD; 19:31) is a decent EPK with interviews and scenes from the film.


• Theatrical Trailer (HD: 2:26)

Additionally DVD and digital copies are included.

The Marsh King's Daughter Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Committed performances and some lovely (if occasionally terrifying) scenery can't help overcome some pacing and writing issues, but fans of the novel may want to check out this release, which offers solid technical merits.