Joanna Hogg’s 'The Souvenir'

Joanna Hogg’s two-part semi-autobiographical project The Souvenir (2019) and The Souvenir Part II (2021) marks Honor Swinton Byrne’s debut. Part II traces the director’s personal artistic journey after coming to terms with an unseeming end to a toxic relationship during her young-adulthood. As I sat through the ending of Part II, a strange sense of ennui engulfed me. I was not remembering a personal experience, but was trying to put a finger on what exactly was wrong in the relationship between the movie’s protagonists Julie (Byrne) and Anthony (Tom Burke).