Review: The Souvenir

Image courtesy of A24.

Joanna Hogg's "The Souvenir" is a well made, if slightly distant, film about a whirlwind romance that turns into a toxic relationship when the picture's central protagonist, Julie (Honor Swinton Byrne), learns that her beau, Anthony (Tom Burke), has some deep dark secrets and cannot be trusted.

The movie has mostly received rave reviews from critics, and although I admire the film and believe it to be a good one, I wasn't quite as taken with it as others were. Perhaps, this is due to Hogg's approach, which is often emotionally removed from a story that is teeming with emotional distress. That being said, the picture is handsome looking and one's interest remains piqued as to where it will go.

At the film's beginning, Julie is a film student in early 1980s England who is in the process of making a feature film, but doesn't quite have a grasp on her subject. Her film is to chronicle the life of a young boy and his mother from the working class in a decaying town, although Julie's own background is upper crust and wealthy. Her teachers point this out to her to try to convince her to do something more within her comfort zone - or, at least, her own life experience.

She gets the same advice from Anthony, a man who works for the Foreign Office whom she meets at a friend's party, and appears to take his opinion more to heart. At first, Julie and Anthony's burgeoning relationship seems promising. They both take trips to meet each other's parents - Julie's mother is played by the actress's real-life mother, Tilda Swinton - and soon move in together, or at least spend the night together frequently.

But one day, a friend of Anthony's lets it slip to Julie that her boyfriend is a heroin addict. She puts on the appearance of not being shocked, but it's clear that she is. Then, Anthony begins to engage in reckless behavior, first ransacking her jewelry drawer and trying to play it off as if her home were burgled, and later allowing another drug user to hang out unattended in her apartment - a discovery she makes upon arriving home one day. During another incident, she finds Anthony upstairs, high on drugs with blood on his clothes.

"The Souvenir" observes how the functioning member of a dysfunctional relationship can make excuses for the bad behavior of their partner to try to convince one's self that such behavior is normal. It's about lying to yourself, so as not to be faced with the truth about someone you love to cover for their dysfunction.

As such, "The Souvenir" is often effective. At times, this seemingly autobiographical film seems chronologically fragmented and the performances are dialed down, often making the film feel isolating. It also relies heavily on anecdotes, rather than following what one might call a traditional narrative. Although it didn't grab me as much as it did many others, I can appreciate its craft and often found it engaging, even if it is slightly stand-offish.