Elizabeth Is Missing

[Elizabeth Is Missing] poignantly conflates its protagonist’s fraying condition with a dual murder mystery—a marriage that transforms this sterling affair into a multifaceted portrait of loss.

The mystery element and its resolution for Sukey and Elizabeth are not too complicated, psychologically or practically, and nor do they need to be. The real drama exists elsewhere, in bravely impressionistic form held together by superb writing, a complex but immaculate structure and Jackson’s mesmerising, heartbreaking (and funny – as when she cannot remember who the prime minister is but “I know I don’t like him”) performance at its heart.

With equal parts sensitivity and suspense, "Elizabeth is Missing" displays an emotional range that is sometimes uncommon in crime by interweaving it with an intensely personal drama. The result is mesmerizing.

As Maud, Jackson is tremendous — the walking embodiment of a desperate snarl. For as solid as the film’s production is, it’s hard to imagine “Elizabeth Is Missing” hanging together without an actor as ferociously good as Jackson anchoring it.

Portraits of dementia often tend toward a reductive binary, that the lightbulb is off or it's on, but Jackson's take on Maud is much more complex. She's often the most "herself" when she's re-experiencing an event from her childhood and often the most in-the-moment when she's repeating a revelation she's already had multiple times. Every beat is heartbreakingly played. ... This is a tightly told story well worth checking out, even if you may need the mystery to pique your initial curiosity.

Elizabeth is Missing is a powerful and unsentimental portrait of psychological decline. Absence comes in many forms here, not least in the gradual fading out of Maud herself.

Despite the efforts of the talented director Aisling Walsh (“Maudie”), who gives the film a welcome restraint and clarity, “Elizabeth Is Missing” doesn’t hit the mark — the screenplay is too fussy and tricky, and the resolution to the twin mysteries, with its mixed notes of heroism and resignation, isn’t convincing. ... Maud may not come fully alive in the script, but there’s nothing missing in Jackson’s portrayal.