Since the world’s en masse introduction to Daisy Ridley in 2015, one thing became very obvious, very quickly: she’s a master at playing a badass. Now, eight years later, she’s taken on a role that’s more evolved than any other she’s played before. As Helena Pelletier in The Marsh King’s Daughter, out now on Prime Video, she’s the strong-willed yet vulnerable heroine one might expect, but under completely different, and terrifying, circumstances. This is a survivalist, psychological thriller that sees Helena having to outmanoeuvre the person closest to her, and it’s gripping from start to finish.
Within the first 10 minutes of the movie, you get the rundown of exactly what awaits you, and Helena. The first frame we see of her she is lying in a marsh, blood-stained and bruised, but alive. In a flashback to her childhood shortly after, Ben Mendelsohn’s Jacob Holbrook (the titular Marsh King) warns a young Helena about the dangers of feeding a hungry wolf scraps from inside their home: “There’s nothing more pure than the instinct to survive… You must always protect your family.”
Those words and that sentiment echo throughout every point of this movie. Helena, her mother and father live in the outskirts of the marshland, far away from any towns or cities. Helena’s been there all her life. Jacob teaches Helena key survival skills, including how to be a master hunter. He even tattoos markings on her as a reward for good work. However, when it’s discovered that Jacob actually abducted her mother, the two successfully escape to the police (much to a young Helena’s confusion) and Jacob flees into the shadows.
Now, Helena’s older, and has a husband and young daughter of her own, Marigold. She covers up her face tattoos with makeup. She works a boring office job. Things seem normal.
That is until police show up at Helena’s house. We learn her father was caught but has now escaped. And he’s on the hunt once more. Terrified he’ll come for her, and her daughter, Helena has to unearth everything the Marsh King taught her to beat him at his own game.
We won’t get into the details of the plot, which is thrilling and intense throughout the entire movie, but the badassery of Helena shows itself in different ways. It’s the bravery to return to the woods and the wild in the first place. The instinct to rely on lessons she’s long kept dormant. The unwavering ferocity she displays the second she senses her daughter is in danger. The self-awareness to know she’s being pulled between two worlds.
But, of course, once the cat-and-mouse chase takes all its twists and turns, we see Helena in her element. She’s paranoid and scared, but she trudges forward, traversing woodland, marsh and rivers in the name of keeping her family safe. After all, that’s exactly what her father told her to do above all else.
To see where this thriller takes you, you’ll have to stream The Marsh King’s Daughter, available now on Prime Video. Start your 30-day-free trial today to see Daisy Ridley kick butt in an entirely new universe.
