The Souvenir
{{Short description|2019 film by Joanna Hogg}}
{{Other uses|Souvenir (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox film
| name = The Souvenir
| image = The Souvenir (2019 poster).png
| caption = Theatrical release poster
| director = Joanna Hogg
| writer = Joanna Hogg
| producer = {{Plainlist|
- Joanna Hogg
- Luke Schiller
}}
| starring = {{Plainlist|
}}
| cinematography = David Raedeker
| editing = Helle Le Fevre
| music =
| studio = {{Plainlist|
- JWH Films
- BBC Films
- BFI
- Sikelia Productions
- Protagonist Pictures
}}
| distributor = {{Plainlist|
}}
| released = {{Film date|df=yes|2019|01|27|Sundance|2019|05|17|United States|2019|08|30|United Kingdom}}
| runtime = 119 minutes{{cite web|url=https://www.sundance.org/projects/the-souvenir|title=The Souvenir|website=Sundance Institute|access-date=15 December 2018|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220122123207/https://www.sundance.org/projects/the-souvenir|archive-date=22 January 2022}}
| country = {{Plainlist|
- United Kingdom
- United States
}}
| language = English
}}
The Souvenir is a 2019 romantic drama film written, directed, and co-produced by Joanna Hogg. The film is a semi-autobiographical account of Hogg's experiences at film school. It stars Honor Swinton Byrne, Tom Burke, and Tilda Swinton. It follows a young, quietly ambitious film student who embarks on her first serious love affair with a charismatic and mysterious man.
The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on 27 January 2019, where Hogg was awarded the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic. It was theatrically released in the United States on 17 May 2019, by A24, and in the United Kingdom and Ireland on 30 August 2019, by Curzon. It grossed over $2 million worldwide and received generally positive reviews from critics. It was named one of the top 10 independent films of 2019 by the National Board of Review and was nominated for Best International Film at the 35th Independent Spirit Awards. The film earned eight nominations, including Best British Independent Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor (for Burke), and Most Promising Newcomer (for Swinton Byrne), at the 22nd British Independent Film Awards. A sequel, The Souvenir Part II, was released in 2021.
Plot
In 1984, Julie, a film student, intends to make a film about a boy, his mother, and their life in the city of Sunderland. She lives in a Knightsbridge flat with another student and his girlfriend. She meets Anthony, a well-to-do man who works at the Foreign Office, who moves in with her after her flatmate moves out. He leaves a postcard with a picture of the girl in the painting called The Souvenir by Jean-Honoré Fragonard. He later takes her to the gallery where the painting is hung. Julie says the girl looks sad, while Anthony says she looks determined.
Anthony has to travel to Paris but returns with some lingerie, which he asks Julie to put on. While in bed, she notices some needle marks on his arm but doesn't know what they are, and he asks Julie for money frequently. Julie starts to pay their restaurant bills and is forced to borrow from her parents.
Julie and Anthony have dinner with two of Anthony's friends, who reveal to Julie when he has left the room that Anthony is a heroin addict. Julie is taken aback but does not mention it to Anthony.
Anthony explains over a meal at Harrods that he has had relationships with three other girls, including trips to Venice with at least one of them, who appears to have committed suicide while on the trip. He invites Julie to go to Venice with him.
One evening, she returns to find that her flat has been broken into, and her valuable jewellery is missing. Later, on their trip to Venice, Anthony admits to doing it but says he didn't tell her to keep her from feeling bad. Julie becomes upset, but Anthony manages to convince her he had a good reason for doing so even though he doesn't elaborate, insinuating it is related to work and not to his heroin habit. Julie starts noticing when Anthony is on heroin, and she attends a self-help group. She starts to confront him sometimes but doubts herself, and he manipulates and gaslights her. She begins to take on the responsibility of his addiction.
Julie returns home one evening to find a strange man in her apartment that Anthony must have let in. She also catches an illness from what she's being exposed to through Anthony. Finally, after finding out he was arrested, Julie asks Anthony to move out.
Julie begins to put herself back together after the breakup, to the happiness of her friends and professors. Anthony's mother calls Julie frequently in an attempt to find him.
Anthony shows up again and appears clean long enough for Julie to invite him back in with her. He goes through withdrawal in front of her but eventually starts using heroin again. He goes missing and is later found dead, having overdosed in a public toilet at the Wallace Collection.
Cast
{{Cast listing|
- Honor Swinton Byrne as Julie
- Tom Burke as Anthony
- Tilda Swinton as Rosalind
- Richard Ayoade as Patrick
- Jaygann Ayeh as Marland
- Jack McMullen as Jack
- Hannah Ashby Ward as Tracey
- Frankie Wilson as Frankie
- Barbara Peirson as Anthony's Mother
- James Dodds as Anthony's Father
- Ariane Labed as Garance
- Tosin Cole as Phil
- Tamsin Dean as NA Member (Uncredited)
}}
Release
The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 27, 2019.{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2018/film/news/2019-sundance-film-festival-competition-program-features-lineup-1203038417/|title=Sundance Film Festival Unveils 2019 Features Lineup|website=Variety|first=Peter|last=Debruge|date=November 28, 2018|accessdate=December 3, 2018}} A24 and Curzon Artificial Eye acquired U.S. and U.K. distribution rights to the film, respectively.{{cite web|url=https://deadline.com/2018/12/a24-acquires-joanna-hoggs-sundance-bound-the-souvenir-1202512944/|title=A24 Acquires Joanna Hogg's Sundance-Bound 'The Souvenir'|website=Deadline Hollywood|first=Patrick|last=Hipes|date=December 3, 2018|accessdate=December 3, 2018}}{{cite web|url=https://www.screendaily.com/news/joanna-hoggs-the-souvenir-secures-uk-and-ireland-deal-exclusive/5136382.article|title=Joanna Hogg's 'The Souvenir' secures UK and Ireland deal (exclusive)|website=Screen International|first=Tom|last=Grater|date=January 31, 2019|accessdate=February 19, 2019}} Focus Features acquired distribution rights for the world excluding North America, the United Kingdom and Taiwan.{{cite news|title=Focus Features buys 'The Souvenir' for rest of the world|website=Screen International|first=Tom|last=Grater|date=15 March 2019|access-date=30 July 2022|url=https://www.screendaily.com/news/focus-features-buys-the-souvenir-for-rest-of-the-world-exclusive/5137624.article}} It was released in the United States on 17 May 2019 by A24,{{cite web|url=https://www.indiewire.com/2019/02/the-souvenir-trailer-joanna-hogg-honor-swinton-byrne-1202045054/|title=The Souvenir' Trailer: Discover the Power of Joanna Hogg's Sundance Darling|website=IndieWire|first=Zack|last=Sharf|date=February 19, 2019|accessdate=February 19, 2019}} and in the United Kingdom on 30 August 2019.{{cite web|url=https://www.curzonartificialeye.com/the-souvenir/|title=The Souvenir|website=Curzon Artificial Eye|accessdate=June 23, 2019}} It was released on VOD by Lionsgate Home Entertainment on 30 July 2019.
Reception
=Box office=
The Souvenir made $85,851 from four theaters in its opening weekend, an average of $21,463 per venue.{{cite news|last=Brooks|first=Brian|date=19 May 2019|title='The Souvenir' Gifted Best Weekend Average; 'Trial By Fire' is Burned: Specialty Box Office|url=https://deadline.com/2019/05/the-souvenir-gifted-best-weekend-average-trial-by-fire-is-burned-specialty-box-office-1202618424/|url-status=live|work=Deadline Hollywood|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220526115753/https://deadline.com/2019/05/the-souvenir-gifted-best-weekend-average-trial-by-fire-is-burned-specialty-box-office-1202618424/|archive-date=26 May 2022|access-date=28 March 2024}}{{cite news|last=Brueggemann|first=Tom|date=19 May 2019|title='The Souvenir' Is the Top Specialized Opener as Business Remains Soft|url=https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/the-souvenir-the-biggest-little-farm-box-office-1202142696/|url-status=live|work=IndieWire|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230601023030/https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/the-souvenir-the-biggest-little-farm-box-office-1202142696/|archive-date=1 June 2023|access-date=28 March 2024}} The film ultimately grossed $1 million in the United States and Canada, and $1 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $2 million.{{cite Box Office Mojo|id=6920356|title=The Souvenir|access-date=28 March 2024}}
=Critical response=
{{Rotten Tomatoes prose|90|8.0|184|consensus=Made by a filmmaker in command of her craft and a star perfectly matched with the material, The Souvenir is a uniquely impactful coming of age drama.|ref=yes|access-date=29 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240302015534/https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_souvenir|archive-date=2 March 2024|url-status=live}} {{Metacritic film prose|92|45|ref=yes|access-date=29 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231030205802/https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-souvenir/|archive-date=30 October 2023|url-status=live}}
Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film 5 out of 5 stars and remarked, "The Souvenir is an artefact in the highest auteur register. Its absence of tonal readability is a challenge. But there is also a cerebrally fierce, slow-burn passion in its austere, unemphasised plainness."{{cite news|last=Bradshaw|first=Peter|date=29 August 2019|title=The Souvenir review – sumptuous class study puts Joanna Hogg in the limelight|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/aug/29/the-souvenir-review-joanna-hogg|url-status=live|work=The Guardian|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240308093606/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/aug/29/the-souvenir-review-joanna-hogg|archive-date=8 March 2024|access-date=29 March 2024}}
Mark Kermode of The Observer gave the film 4 out of 5 stars and stated, "Hogg turns the blade on herself, performing what seems at times to be a delicate act of on-screen auto-vivisection. It's powerful stuff: wryly tender, frequently funny, but insidiously suffocating. More than once I found myself stifling a scream – and I mean that as a compliment." Kermode highlighted, "Particular plaudits are due to Tom Burke, who gives a career-best performance."{{cite news|last=Kermode|first=Mark|date=1 September 2019|title=The Souvenir – Joanna Hogg's most intimate film to date|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/sep/01/the-souvenir-review-joanna-hogg-tom-burke-honor-swinton-byrne-tilda-swinton|url-status=live|work=The Observer|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231201165306/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/sep/01/the-souvenir-review-joanna-hogg-tom-burke-honor-swinton-byrne-tilda-swinton|archive-date=1 December 2023|access-date=29 March 2024}}
Justin Chang of the Los Angeles Times opined, "If The Souvenir seems to move assuredly to its own unconventional rhythms, it's because Hogg isn't telling a straightforward story; she's showing us, piecemeal, how an artist's sensibility comes into being."{{cite news|last=Chang|first=Justin|date=15 May 2019|title=Review: Joanna Hogg's 'The Souvenir' is a filmmaker's exquisitely moving self-portrait|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-the-souvenir-review-20190515-story.html|url-status=live|work=Los Angeles Times|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231201040722/https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-the-souvenir-review-20190515-story.html|archive-date=1 December 2023|access-date=29 March 2024}}
A. O. Scott of The New York Times called it "one of my favorite movies of the year so far" and wrote, "The Souvenir feels like a whispered confidence, an intimate disclosure that shouldn't be betrayed because it isn't really yours." Scott also noted, "This is one of the saddest movies you can imagine, and it's an absolute joy to watch."{{cite news|last=Scott|first=A. O.|date=16 May 2019|title='The Souvenir' Review: A Great Movie About a Bad Boyfriend|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/16/movies/the-souvenir-review.html|url-status=live|work=The New York Times|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240326204158/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/16/movies/the-souvenir-review.html|archive-date=26 March 2024|access-date=29 March 2024}}
Michael O'Sullivan of The Washington Post gave the film 3.5 out of 4 stars and commented, "Hogg's coming-of-age tale is no misty remembrance of bygone days. Rather, it is a clear-eyed reflection on how hindsight — and true art — is always 20/20."{{cite news|last=O'Sullivan|first=Michael|date=20 May 2019|title='The Souvenir' recalls a turbulent relationship through 20/20 hindsight|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/movies/the-souvenir-recalls-a-turbulent-relationship-through-2020-hindsight/2019/05/20/06ec0ca0-7988-11e9-b3f5-5673edf2d127_story.html|url-status=live|work=The Washington Post|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211113184329/https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/movies/the-souvenir-recalls-a-turbulent-relationship-through-2020-hindsight/2019/05/20/06ec0ca0-7988-11e9-b3f5-5673edf2d127_story.html|archive-date=13 November 2021|access-date=29 March 2024}}
David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter described the film as "an illuminating (self-)portrait of a young artist as well as a mesmerizing chronicle of a consuming, destructive relationship that steadily inches its way under the viewer's skin."{{cite news|last=Rooney|first=David|date=27 January 2019|title='The Souvenir': Film Review|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/souvenir-film-review-sundance-2019-1177626/|url-status=live|work=The Hollywood Reporter|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410073545/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/souvenir-film-review-sundance-2019-1177626/|archive-date=10 April 2023|access-date=29 March 2024}}
Guy Lodge of Variety stated, "Hogg takes a little of both positions in her rich, exquisitely reflective fourth feature — a work of memoir shattered and reassembled into a universally moving, truthful fiction." Lodge praised Burke and Swinton Byrne for their "intensely interlocked performances."{{cite news|last=Lodge|first=Guy|date=28 January 2019|title=Film Review: 'The Souvenir'|url=https://variety.com/2019/film/reviews/the-souvenir-review-1203120073/|url-status=live|work=Variety|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231122193337/https://variety.com/2019/film/reviews/the-souvenir-review-1203120073/|archive-date=22 November 2023|access-date=29 March 2024}}
Tomris Laffly of TheWrap wrote, "The Souvenir isn't exactly autobiographical, but it shares a DNA with the filmmaker's own past as a film student. It is a precise yet dreamy memory piece, in an opposite but equally masterful manner to Alfonso Cuarón's Roma, also a cinematic reenactment of recollections. […] The Souvenir — with its soft pastels, grainy textures and cloudy aftertaste — feels like getting liquefied within them."{{cite news|last=Laffly|first=Tomris|date=15 May 2019|title='The Souvenir' Film Review: Sundance Award-Winner Weaves a Dreamy but Honest Memory Piece|url=https://www.thewrap.com/the-souvenir-film-review-sundance-grand-jury-joanna-hogg-tilda-swinton/|url-status=live|work=TheWrap|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220203181452/https://www.thewrap.com/the-souvenir-film-review-sundance-grand-jury-joanna-hogg-tilda-swinton/|archive-date=3 February 2022|access-date=29 March 2024}}
=Accolades=
Sequel
{{main|The Souvenir Part II}}
In May 2019, it was announced a sequel would be produced with Swinton Byrne, Swinton, Ayoade and Labed reprising their roles, with Robert Pattinson joining the cast,{{cite web|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/cannes-robert-pattinson-star-two-part-film-souvenir-1005746|title=Cannes: Robert Pattinson to Star in Two-Part Film 'The Souvenir'|website=The Hollywood Reporter|first=Rebecca|last=Fond|date=May 20, 2017|accessdate=May 19, 2019}} although he later dropped out and was later replaced with Charlie Heaton and Harris Dickinson.{{cite web|url=https://www.indiewire.com/2019/06/robert-pattinson-drops-souvenir-sequel-1202149042/|title=Robert Pattinson Drops Out of 'Souvenir' Sequel Due to Scheduling Conflicts — Exclusive|website=IndieWire|first=Kate|last=Erbland|date=June 11, 2019|accessdate=June 11, 2019}} A24 will distribute.{{cite web|url=https://deadline.com/2019/01/the-souvenir-part-2-a24-sequel-deal-sundance-film-festival-joanna-hogg-1202540484/|title=A24 Lands NA Rights To 'The Souvenir' Sequel as First Film Is Poised for Sunday Sundance Premiere|website=Deadline Hollywood|first=Mike Jr.|last=Fleming|date=January 23, 2019|accessdate=May 19, 2019}} Principal photography began in June 2019.{{cite web|url=https://www.indiewire.com/2019/05/joanna-hogg-souvenir-2-sundance-sequel-1202141176/|title=Joanna Hogg Teases 'The Souvenir 2,' Which Won't Be Ready for Sundance 2020|website=IndieWire|first=Kate|last=Erbland|date=May 17, 2019|accessdate=May 19, 2019}}{{cite web|url=https://www.edp24.co.uk/going-out/film-starring-robert-pattinson-to-shoot-in-norfolk-1-6054536|title=Movie starring Robert Pattinson to film in Norfolk|website=edp24.co.uk|first=Rosanna|last=Elliot|date=May 16, 2019|accessdate=May 16, 2019}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Official website|a24films.com/films/the-souvenir}}
- {{IMDb title}}
{{Joanna Hogg}}
{{London Film Critics Circle Award for British Film of the Year}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Souvenir, The}}
Category:2019 independent films
Category:2019 romantic drama films
Category:2010s English-language films
Category:2010s coming-of-age drama films
Category:American independent films
Category:American coming-of-age drama films
Category:American romantic drama films
Category:British independent films
Category:British coming-of-age drama films
Category:British romantic drama films
Category:English-language independent films
Category:English-language romantic drama films
Category:Films about filmmaking
Category:Films about film directors and producers
Category:Films about heroin addiction
Category:Films about mother–daughter relationships
Category:Films directed by Joanna Hogg
Category:Films set in the 1980s
Category:Films shot in England
Category:Semi-autobiographical films
Category:Curzon Artificial Eye films