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Cooper and Akhtar's intriguing exposition of Debra Granik's Leave no Trace (2018) with multiple relational perspectives provides a comprehensive understanding of the film's latent dynamics. The father, Will, idealizes nature as the dense foliage holds and shelters him and his 13-year-old daughter, Tom. The film's stunning visualization of the father-daughter interaction and their surroundings conveys more poignancy than the printed word of a novel. Will practices survival skills as he is determined to continue this existence as a safe contrast and retreat from the danger he endured from his PTSD. In the wilderness, he is in control in contrast to the overwhelming threat from the enemy in combat.
In Will's relentless role as teacher about nature and protector of his pubescent daughter, he neglects her striving for autonomy and female identity. Tom eventually tells him “same things that are wrong with you aren't wrong with me.” In addition to this adage for campers, “Leave No Trace,” the title of the film, acknowledges the unexplained absence of Tom's mother/Will's wife. The presence of a female director could suggest that she serves as a proxy mother for the absent mother helping the actress play the role in which she eventually separates and reaches for her feminine identity.
How to cite this article: Film Editor's introductory comment to Leave No Trace (2018). Int J Appl Psychoanal Studies. 2020; 17: 380.