'The Souvenir Part II' – A Hypnotising but Imperfect Tale of Grief

Cast and crew of ‘The Souvenir’: Part 2 attending the UK Premiere at London’s Film Festival, October 2021. Source: John Phillips/Getty Images

When Joanna Hogg’s film ‘The Souvenir’ premiered in 2019, it was met with acclaim by critics and independent film lovers alike, winning the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance and garnering an impressive eight nominations at the British Independent Film Awards. The first film saw Julie, a film student planning her graduation project, struggling to balance her limited experience from a sheltered, privileged upbringing with a desire to tell diverse and interesting stories. All this while her life was turned upside down by a toxic relationship with an older, secretly drug-addled man.

It is unusual for a film such as this to get a sequel, but Joanna Hogg has returned to these characters to finally bring Julie’s story to a close, following the young student’s pursuit in filmmaking, and her grief in the aftermath of losing her boyfriend to a fatal overdose.

It is clear that both instalments of ‘The Souvenir’ have been lovingly created by someone who sincerely cares for the craft of filmmaking. However, what Hogg hoped to achieve with the framing of Julie’s story is unclear.

From left to right - Richard Ayoade, Director Joanna Hogg, Honor Swinton Byrne, a guest and Jaygann Ayeh attending the London Film Festival for ‘The Souvenir: Part 2’ Premiere. Source: John Phillips/Getty Images

While Julie’s complex feelings about her relationship and grief makes her an interesting and sympathetic character, her blaring faults emerge through her portrayal as a poor director. Julie is repeatedly, and rightfully, criticised on the poor formatting and direction of her script. Instead of owning up to these issues, she mutters half-hearted apologies but doesn’t work to improve.

From a storytelling perspective, that’s not inherently a terrible angle, but it does bring into question what Hogg’s intention was with the framing of the character. Everything about the shot composition—the reliance on close-ups of Julie’s forlorn face, the sombre music—puts the focus solely on Julie, implying to the audience through emotional cinematography that she is in the right regardless of the arguments made by her classmates and lecturers about her vague artistic vision.

Nevertheless, it’s worth mentioning that Honor Swinton Byrne, a newcomer to the acting industry, is as excellent in the role of Julie as she was in the first instalment, providing a chastened and deliberately reserved performance. Julie is a woman of few words and spends most of the film wandering around solemnly, leaning her head on her hands, and is constantly on the verge of tears, but Swinton Byrne possesses a subtle charisma that keeps Julie’s lethargy from being depressing. When she smiles, it means something, and we smile with her.

Honor Swinton Byrne attending the 2021 Gotham Awards at Cipriani Wall Street. Source: Taylor Hill/FilmMagic

Tilda Swinton’s role as Rosalind, Julie’s mother, is, as with the first film, one of the more memorable supporting performances. It would be a disservice to Swinton and Swinton Byrne as actresses to suggest their real relationship influenced their portrayal of a complex mother-daughter bond onscreen, but they so perfectly and so naturalistically capture the deep affection and lack of communication between the contrarian child and the parent who doesn’t understand them.

Richard Ayoade, playing as Patrick, seems out of place amongst a cast otherwise populated with youths, being in his mid-forties. But he’s one of the stronger players, bringing to the table a dynamic performance of an ambitious classmate who teeters the fine line between an effete egotist and an ambitious artist whose austerity for his work makes him dismissive of others. The viewer is left unsure whether to be irritated by his presence or sympathetic to his earnestness, but what can be certain is that Ayoade is an excellent performer--hopefully he’ll become a more frequently seen face in other serious projects.

Most of the characters were established in the first film, and the handful of new figures don’t add much, such as classmate Jim, who is set up as though his role will prove significant to the plot. Then he disappears after five minutes. Which feels like an oversight as all the students work within or adjacent to the same filming space—you’d think they’d bump into each other more often.

Overall, The Souvenir Part II is an experience with soaring highs—its production values, cinematography, and key performances—with, ironically for a film about an aspiring writer-director, some wobbles in the brass tacks of the script and directing choices.