Eternal Daughter – IFFR

in Memorial (2019) and Remembrance, Part Two (2021), Tilda Swinton and her daughter Honor Swinton-Byrne play Rosalind and Julie respectively, similar to screenwriter and director Joanna Hogg (2021).exhibitionIFFR 2014) and her mother. Eternal daughter It transports the relationship between Julie and Rosalind to another place and time, decades later, and this time Swinton plays both roles.

The setting is a rather creepy abandoned mansion shrouded in fog in Wales. Nowadays it is a hotel, but it was once where Rosalind grew up. Hogg gives us chills with his ambiguity and tension, with nods to minimalist masters like Jacques Tourneur and Jack Clayton; Subtle off-screen sounds play an important role. But the heart of the film is the loving and complex relationship between mother and daughter.

Don’t expect the standard tricks from movies in which one actor plays two roles: no over-the-shoulder shots, no stand-ins, and almost no digital production — except for one key heartbreaking moment. The cast is small, but Carly Sophia Davis is unforgettable as a sarcastic, indifferent receptionist, and a dog named Louis (Swinton’s own dog) who almost steals the show.

-Adrian Martin