The Souvenir focuses on Julie, played by Honor Swinton Byrne, a young film student who’s in the process of trying to get a project off the ground. One day she meets Anthony, played by Tom Burke, a young man working at the Foreign Office who is doing well for himself. When Julie’s roommate moves out, Anthony moves in, and the two become closer. However, there’s more to Anthony than meets the eye, and as Julie discovers more about his past, the more it takes its toll on her.
The film is a subtle look at the deterioration of one’s mental state, and the effects that a toxic relationship may have on a particular individual. The film tries to act as a reflection of real life. Not everything is presented in a big dramatic reveal, and not every conflict is resolved in handled in emotional outbursts and passionate speeches. Much of the tension lies in seemingly mundane conversations and characters’ facial expressions.
While it’s commendable the film tries to provide a realistic take on this subject, it unfortunately just doesn’t translate well here. Nearly every character spends just about all of the film with stoic looks on their faces. They never really have overly emotional reactions to anything, and at times their delivery is just above monotonous. Conflict seems to be avoided at times and it feels like things are bottled up.
In real life, people do tend to avoid conflict and would rather try moving on from something rather than start an argument. And that is expressed here. People tend to let themselves feel uncomfortable for the sake of not openly creating an argument. And Julie does exactly that. However, there’s never a moment where she finally has enough. She stays in this one constant emotional state throughout the film and as a result, isn’t ever really someone who’s easy to get invested in.
The film is very dialogue based, and a lot of major moments are revealed through dialogue, rather than characters actually seeing something. Once again, this technically is a reflection of how things would go in real life. Information isn’t always revealed to people through someone walking in on something shocking. They usually find that information out after the fact. And there’s a lot of that present in this film.
While this is a reflection of reality, this breaks the “show, don’t tell” rule of filmmaking. And this information isn’t even really revealed with any sort of high-energy delivery. It’s just stated and the film moves on. There’s never a moment that truly captures the audience, or really asks them to engage in what’s going on. Something will be said, and the film moves on, and there’s never a moment to really let the audience in on how a character feels or what they’re thinking, outside of a pained facial expression here and there.
It’s a shame the movie never really captivates the audience, because on a technical level, it is pretty solid. Shot on 16mm, it really does feel like a film made for film students. Some scenes feel like paintings come to life, with a grainy texture and beautiful angles to help capture the internal madness Julie must be going through as her relationship with Anthony is driving her crazy.
It’s just unfortunate that there’s never really a moment that allows the audience to connect with these characters on an emotional level. Not that the actors handle the material poorly. Everyone makes the most out of what they’re given, with Byrne, in first starring role, showing she’s capable of handling more complex roles with her subtle facial expressions, while Burke does a fine job at making Anthony someone who the audience is clearly meant to hate. Byrne’s real life mother, Tilda Swinton, has a supporting part as Julie’s mother Rosalind. While she’s fine for what the role is, she only shows up occasionally and never really makes much of an impact on the story.
The Souvenir’s main quality is its subtlety and because of that, it has a difficult time really becoming a captivating story. While it’s well-acted and competently shot, it has a severe lack of establishing emotional connections with its characters. It tries to be a reflection of how toxic relationships would be handled in real life, but due to its overly-grounded approach, fails to really capture the audience’s attention or keep them engaged, resulting in a dull, slow-moving experience that could have been so much more.
Recommendation: Avoid It
Comentarios