Tilda Swinton in a dual role resurrects inner ghosts

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In the guise of a film of ghosts, Joanna Hogg continues her work on memory begun in “The Souvenir” 1 and 2.

A woman travels back in time with her mother in a deserted hotel in the English countryside, in Eternal Daughter which comes out Wednesday, March 22. Tilda Swinton in a mother-daughter dual role is the perfect choice to interpret them with her subtle presence. A beautiful haunting film, all in interiority, atmospheric and gothic, produced by Martin Scorsese.

The stuff of memories

Julie (Tilda Swinton), director, and her mother (Tilda Swinton), have reserved a room for a few days in a lost hotel, a sumptuous residence where the mother lived part of her youth. The filmmaker comes here to draw inspiration and her mother memories. Julie is intrigued by the absence of other guests, by the attitude of the staff, by the repeated disappearances of her dog, while a strange atmosphere reigns in the deserted hotel. Brought to explore it, she goes to meet an unspeakable secret.

The Hotel and its park are reminiscent of Bly, the property of the nut turn by Henry James, beautifully adapted by Jack Clayton in Innocents (1962). Like the recent Men by Alex Garland, a metaphor for violence against women in the form of a ghost film, Eternal Daughter invites ghosts to evoke the elusive fabric of which memories are woven, and the imagination that is projected there.

Atmosphere movie

Psychological filmmaker who explores human nature and especially feminine nature, Joanna Hogg writes a screenplay full of nuances. The delicate progression of the story intersects with the wooded shades of the interiors, mixed with toiles de Jouy, while a palette of nuanced greens dresses the English countryside. As in any ghost film, the story must lead to a revelation, a “twist”, which gives the key to the haunting. We remember that of Others by Alejandro Amenábar, the conclusion of Eternal Daughter is also surprising, even if we see it coming.

Joanna Hogg is not directing an exercise in style, but a very personal film. The author-director digs the furrow of a theme that punctuates her filmography. Here she explores the creative process in its relationship to memory. Eternal Daughter is not very far from shining of Stanley Kubrick, without the murderous instinct of Jack Nicholson. A film with an atmosphere conducive to psychology, while playing with the codes of anxiety, Eternal Daughter captivates from floor to ceiling.

The sheet

Gender : fantasy drama
Director: Joanna Hogg
Actors: Tilda Swinton, Joseph Mydell, Carly-Sophia Davies, Alfie Sankey-Green
Country : Great Britain / United States
Duration : 1h36
Exit : March 22 2023
Distributer : CondorCast

Summary: Julie, accompanied by her elderly mother, comes to take a few days off in a hotel lost in the English countryside. The young woman, director in full doubt, hopes to find inspiration there; her mother sees it as an opportunity to bring back distant memories, between the walls of this building she frequented in her youth. Very quickly, Julie is seized by the strange atmosphere of the place: the corridors are deserted, the switchboard operator has a hostile behavior, and her dog keeps escaping. At nightfall, circumstances push Julie to explore the estate. She is then won over by the tenacious impression that an unspeakable secret haunts these walls.


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