THE SOUVENIR

An enigmatic, voyeuristic, painfully plodding slice of intimacy, addiction in 1980’s London; “Julia”, (Honor Swinton Byrne) twenty-four, an entitled film student, succumbs to the slithering charms of “Anthony” (Tom Burke) whose garbled, pseudo-intellectualism, fed by his cocaine dependency, woos with vapid, arrogant, sickening poppycock;  Julia’s naivety refuses to recognize his villainy, depravity, as he plummets wantonly into moral turpitude; she pays financially, emotionally, professionally for her “fatal attraction.”

Julia’s mother (Tilda Swinton, as in real life) seems flimsily unaware of her daughter’s destructive relationship; mildly attracted, more age appropriate, to the caddish Anthony.

Director/writer Joanna Hogg’s, semi-autobiographical scenario is a metaphor for intelligent people making inappropriate choices, many, incapable of “reforming”, kicking the “habit”; perpetual repetition, resulting in unsalvageable, permanent addiction.

Suffering through a plethora of pregnant pauses, resulting in lifeless stillbirths, zapped any interest or energy one might have invested in these sad individuals; their familiarity breeds, if not contempt, lethargy.

 

TWO STARS!!

 

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