#TIFF22: “THE ETERNAL DAUGHTER”

By Mr. Will Wong

Shot in secret during the Pandemic in Wales, Joanna Hogg continues the story of Julie, which began in 2019’s The Souvenir. Looking to make a Film about her mother, Julie (Tilda Swinton) takes her mother Rosalind (also played by Tilda Swinton) to a home she grew-up in, now a hotel. The vacation is meant as bonding time between mother and daughter, culminating in Rosalind‘s birthday, all the while avoiding family.

Julie hopes to get a bit of work done on this working vacation, but is struggling to focus. She hears howling noises at night that keep her up. She then learns that the house holds also some sad memories in addition to happy ones, and this is a turning point for Julie as she faces her mother’s mortality, and realizes she doesn’t have much time.

Hogg strikes a unique tonal balance here in THE ETERNAL DAUGHTER. It is dark, mysterious and eery, but also incredibly heartfelt and affecting. This very much falls in my own personal Top Five of the Festival this year entirely on the tremendous and exact work from incomparable Swinton. It’s just mindblowing how she is able to play two characters who are bantering through most of the Film, so seamlessly. Quite the feat.

THE ETERNAL DAUGHTER screens at TIFF ’22 as follows:

Sun, Sep 11 IN-PERSON TIFF Bell Lightbox 6:15pm

Mon, Sep 12 IN-PERSON Scotiabank Theatre TorontoClosed captioning, Descriptive sound 3:00pm

Thu, Sep 15 IN-PERSON Scotiabank Theatre TorontoClosed captioning, Descriptive sound 5:30pm

Sun, Sep 18 IN-PERSON Scotiabank Theatre TorontoClosed captioning, Descriptive sound 1:00pm