The first time I tried to watch the movie version of The Lost Daughter, I stopped about a quarter of the way through: the level of emotion felt unendurable. I’ve since talked to at least a couple of friends who stopped and never went back. But I couldn’t get it out of my mind, so I read the novel, took a week or so to recover, then watched the rest of the film. Both versions still recur to me, a few months later, and with so much happening in life and in the world, I wondered what makes them so hypnotic, how they can feel so strange and dreamlike (full of actions no reasonable person would take) but also touch home for so many of us."