Movie review: The Souvenir Part II

Honor Swinton-Byrne and Tilda Swinton in The Souvenir: Part 2

British filmmaker Joanna Hogg continues the autobiographical journey she began in her acclaimed 2019 film with this spectacular follow-up.

In The Souvenir, we followed Julie (played by Honor Swinton Byrne – Tilda Swinton's daughter), a film school student in 1980s London who has a relationship with the charming, aloof toff Anthony (Tom Burke). Julie attempts to endure his heroin addiction, but he is overcome by his demons and ultimately overdoses in an art gallery bathroom.

In Part II, we pick up right after Anthony's death, when Julie is staying with her parents to cope with the shock of his death. As in the first film, Tilda Swinton portrays her (real-life daughter's) mother, and she is once again delightful in the role and has more to do here, adding much to its tapestry.

Julie attempts to move on with her life but she remains haunted by the memory of Anthony. Approaching the end of her degree, she resolves to make her and Anthony's relationship the subject of her graduation film. It will be called The Souvenir. But filmmaking is complicated.

As great as The Souvenir was (Sight and Sound called it the best film of 2019), Part II is on another level. Julie's hesitantly haphazard journey towards self-assurance as an artist is reflected in the sequel's supremely confident creative flourishes. It wouldn't feel this way without its predecessor's foundation to build on, but everything feels more textured and rich here. Together, these two movies form a masterwork, and their relationship to each other informs both endeavours.

When Julie, Hogg's on-screen avatar, sets about making (a version) of a film Hogg has actually made (and the audience has presumably seen), the metaphorical layers in play could easily overwhelm the experience. But the nuanced self-reflection of the concept only enhances the perceptive social depictions.

Many scenes take place on film sets (not just Julie's) and the messy, romantic, collaborative nature of filmmaking feels perfectly aligned with Julie's uneasy, evolving sense of herself. Swinton Byrne is frankly sublime, with Hogg never quite settling on one perspective on the versatile lead, which helps reflect Julie's under-expressed complexity.

British comedic royalty Richard Ayoade (The IT Crowd), who had a one-scene cameo in the first film, returns as a hilariously tortured artist director friend of Anthony's and is highly amusing as just one of many vessels for Hogg's feelings about creative expression.

The ensemble expands for the sequel, with Charlie Heaton (Stranger Things), Harris Dickinson (The King's Man) and Joe Alwyn (The Favourite) all bringing something interesting as a couple of actors and an editor, respectively.

A less literal film than the first one, Hogg eventually strides headlong into something between David Lynch and Charlie Kaufman-style meta playfulness. It's wonderful. This one is guaranteed to leave you feeling some kind of way. It's the Back to the Future Part II of searingly intimate British dramas set in the 1980s.

Cast: Tilda Swinton, Honor Swinton Byrne, Richard Ayoade
Director: Joanna Hogg
Running time: 107 minutes
Rating: M, Sex scenes & offensive language
Verdict: Bold personal cinema made artfully universal