The Marsh King's Daughter

The Marsh King's Daughter is a 2023 American-Canadian psychological thriller film directed by Neil Burger and written by Elle Smith and Mark L. Smith, based on the 2017 novel of the same name by Karen Dionne. It stars Daisy Ridley, Ben Mendelsohn, Garrett Hedlund, Caren Pistorius, Brooklynn Prince, and Gil Birmingham.

The Marsh King's Daughter was released in the United States on November 3, 2023, by Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions to mixed to average reviews.

Plot
Young Helena lives in the Northern Michigan wilderness with her mother, Beth, and her father, Jacob Holbrook. Beth calls Helena back to their small cabin, but Helena ignores the call and finds Jacob. Jacob teaches Helena how to track a deer through the forest; when they see it, Helena takes a shot but misses, disappointing Jacob. Back home, Jacob gives Helena a tattoo on her forearm as a “reward.” While hunting, Helena and Jacob encounter the paw of a trapped animal, and Jacob explains the animal gnawed its own arm off to escape. Helena’s hunting improves, and Jacob gives her more tattoos.

While Jacob is out one day, a man arrives lost on an ATV. Beth begs the man to help them and drive them away before Jacob returns, but Helena refuses to get on the bike, confused by what her mother is saying. Jacob returns and kills the man, but Beth knocks Helena unconscious and drives them away. Helena wakes up in the office of Sherriff Clark, who promises her that she is now safe. Beth explains that Jacob kidnapped her and took her to the woods years before; Helena refuses to believe her mother, calling her a liar. Jacob helps Helena escape the station, but the police arrive and arrest Jacob.

Years later, adult Helena lives in suburbia and works a desk job. She covers up her facial tattoos every day with makeup. She picks up her daughter Marigold. She takes her to a playground where she teaches Marigold about different types of birds and trees. They return home and join Helena’s husband, Stephen, for a work picnic. When Stephen’s colleagues ask about her background, Helena gives a made-up story.

On the highway, Jacob and another prisoner attack a guard, cause an accident, and escape. Helena returns to find police at her house; Special Agent Illing informs her that Jacob has escaped, and they are searching to see if Helena and he have had any contact, which Helena is adamant has not happened. Stephen learns that Helena’s father is the “Marsh King,” a secret she had kept from him, and he is upset to have been left in the dark.

Helena watches news coverage that explains how Helena was born after Beth had been abducted and that Beth died from an apparent suicide four years earlier, having never recovered from the trauma. Stephen takes Marigold to a hotel for the night. Alone at home, Helena retrieves a hidden box of mementos from her childhood, including a hunting knife, wanders into the forest, and swims in an isolated lake. Jacob and the other inmate are picked up at a gas station by an accomplice. Sherriff Clark visits Helena to check on her; he laments that Beth never got a chance to meet Marigold. Helena explains that though Clark, Beth, and she became a family after the rescue, she felt Beth never wanted Helena around because she only saw Jacob in her. Clark assures her that Stephen will forgive her.

Illing tells Helena that they found Jacob’s body in a burnt-out car near the Canadian border based on three gold teeth in one of the bodies. Helena tells Stephen she stands by, not revealing the truth because she thinks Stephen would never have married her. Helena stops him from leaving and tells Stephen the truth about her childhood through the history of all her tattoos. Helena takes Stephen and Marigold to meet Clark, and he shares happy stories of Helena’s childhood. Clark reminds Helena that Jacob’s falsely appropriated many Native American traditions, and Helena should remember that Jacob was not a good man. Helena wakes up from a nightmare thinking Jacob has broken into their house, then discovers fresh dirt on the floor in the morning. She tracks the prints only to learn the dirt came from Marigold’s shoes.

At the farmers market, Helena hears a bird call and sees a man who resembles Jacob walk away. She chases after him, but he disappears in the crowd. Helena returned home and set up a series of traps around the house’s perimeter. Helena puts Marigold to bed and then has a memory from the wilderness of Beth giving her a straw doll. A bell on one of the traps goes off; she investigates and finds a dead rabbit strung up in a snare. Helena calls Clark, who tells her to move on, but her paranoia grows once she finds straw dolls in Marigold’s room.

Helena tells Stephen she has to do something but can’t tell him what; she buys supplies and then drives into the wilderness. Helena makes her way to her childhood cabin in the wilderness and finds it abandoned. Jacob shows up and repeatedly calls Helena “Little Shadow,” the nickname he gave her, and reveals he never stopped keeping track of her. Jacob is upset not to have met Marigold, and he explains he wants to take Helena and Marigold to Canada to be a family again, as their life in the wild was perfect. Helena explains she has a new family and remembers the time she saw Jacob attempt to drown Beth for trying to escape. Jacob says he did not kidnap Beth, but instead, they had run away together, and everything Helena has been told is a lie. Helena insists this is the end of their story and asks Jacob to leave her and her family alone; he agrees, and they hug goodbye.

Back at the cabin, Helena finds Clark, who has followed her. She confesses to him that Jacob was there but is now gone, but Jacob reappears, shoots and kills Clark, then throws and traps Helena in a pit. Jacob leaves, saying he will get Marigold so they can be a family. Helena manages to escape and retrieves Jacob’s hidden hunting rifle from the cabin. She tracks Jacob as he escapes in a canoe down the river and shoots him out of the canoe. Helena continues to stalk Jacob through the wilderness, using Jacob’s lessons as guidance. Jacob hides in the marshland and shoots Helena in the leg, then forces her to lead him to the kayak that she used to get there. Helena tells Jacob that she always blamed her mother for everything that happened but finally knows the truth about Jacob.

Helena throws herself and Jacob off a cliff into the river, badly injuring them both. Helena retrieves a gun and shoots Jacob in the head just before he does the same, telling him she remembers his lesson to always protect her family. Helena kayaks back to civilization and her family, leaving Jacob’s body in the riverbed.

Cast

 * Daisy Ridley as Helena
 * Brooklynn Prince as young Helena
 * Ben Mendelsohn as Jacob
 * Gil Birmingham as Clark Bekkum
 * Caren Pistorius as Beth
 * Garrett Hedlund as Stephen
 * Joey Carson as Marigold
 * Yanna McIntosh as Agent Lorna Illing
 * Lorne Cardinal as the Sheriff

Production
The project was announced in February 2018, with Elle Smith and Mark L. Smith writing the screenplay for director Morten Tyldum. Alicia Vikander was cast in the lead role, and was also set to serve as an executive producer.

Filming was due to begin in late July 2019, and continue through autumn, but no further developments were announced until February 2021, with Tyldum and Vikander no longer involved in the film. Neil Burger was now directing with Daisy Ridley cast to star, replacing Tyldum and Vikander. In May, Ben Mendelsohn joined the cast. In June 2021, Brooklynn Prince, Gil Birmingham, Caren Pistorius, and Garrett Hedlund joined the cast of the film.

Filming began on June 7, 2021, in Kent County and the Kawartha Lakes of Ontario, Canada. Filming officially wrapped on August 6, 2021.

Music
In April 2022, it was revealed that Adam Janota Bzowski composed the score for the film.

Release
Initially meant to be released by STXfilms, the film's distribution was shopped to different distributors following the dissolution of STXfilms' domestic distribution company: eventually, STXfilms formed a domestic distribution partnership with Lionsgate, Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions scheduling the film for release on October 6, 2023. It was later delayed to November 3, 2023, to avoid competition with Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour. Amazon Studios will distribute the film in European markets as part of ErosSTX's multi-year output deal with the company via Prime Video.

The Marsh King's Daughter was released on digital platforms on November 21, 2023, followed by a Blu-ray and DVD release on January 2, 2024.