Film Review — The Souvenir Part II
Joanna Hogg’s surprisingly vital sequel features a superb leading performance from Honor Swinton Byrne
At first glance, Joanna Hogg’s The Souvenir isn’t exactly screaming for a sequel. Charting the fractured journey of film school student Julie (Honor Swinton Byrne) and her affair with a secretive foreign office official who turns out to be a heroin addict, circa mid-1980s London, it seemed a complete story, with nuanced and interesting things to say about manipulative relationships and becoming an artist. Yet The Souvenir Part II is at once a fascinating companion piece; focused more on the artistic process, but also the grieving process, and how the former can provide a cathartic exorcism of the latter.
The plot involves Julie coming to terms with the tragedy in the previous instalment, whilst grappling with the rigours of her dissertation film. Her teachers are not convinced her script is in sufficiently good shape. Julie proceeds regardless, and her screenplay becomes directly informed by her prior relationship.
Here The Souvenir Part II is at its most absorbing, with the process of filmmaking itself providing plenty of dramatic meat. Cast grapple with motivations, crew become frustrated with last-minute changes, tempers fray, and all the while Julie silently…
