With Fall settling in, A24 was looking to make 2021 the comeback they needed. The previous year was met with a pandemic that left the future of cinema uncertain. Even then, they pushed forward with a mix of arthouse films like Lamb (2021) that made for some marketing as well as few definitive hits like The Green Knight (2021). The only thing that was uncertain was if anything would have the prestige they needed to get back in the awards race. To many, The Souvenir Part II (2021) symbolized the most indicative shift yet with many campaigning to get Honor Swinton Byrne an acting nomination. Even if that didn’t happen, the long term impact has been good for the studio.
The story begins somewhere in the murky in-between of director Joanna Hogg releasing The Souvenir (2019) and the eventual filming. Hogg envisioned the story of Julie as a two part film that fictionalized her life. In Part I, she covered Julie’s complicated relationship with a reckless, drug addicted boyfriend who dies. It was grounded in realism with the story emphasizing Julie’s inability to feel in control of her life. Part II would be more dreamlike, presenting her stepping into a world where she was able to express herself and take control of her vision. Given that it ends with a Powell & Pressburger-type dance sequence, she wasn’t afraid to tap into the blurriness of seeing life through a cinematic lens.
In order to understand the film, there needs to be some context about Hogg’s personal life. As a university student majoring in film, she would make a graduation piece in 1986 called Caprice. She was friends with Tilda Swinton who co-starred in the production. In some way, The Souvenir was designed as a romanticization of her youth and an effort to reshape it into something more cinematic. The idea first emerged in the late 90s when she wrote the two-part outline in a notebook. She chose to not consider it for a near two decades. It wasn’t until after producer Martin Scorsese had seen Archipelago (2010) that he got in contact with her and decided to collaborate.
Despite the parallels of Swinton Byrne being Swinton’s daughter, there wasn’t any intention of her playing the lead. Her first significant acting role would be The Souvenir. Much like Hogg and her character, she was more invested in attending school and achieving her degree. She was selected 10 days prior to the shoot starting and that was entirely because Swinton was having a conversation with her nearby. The longtime friendship made it an easy collaboration.
To jump forward, The Souvenir would become a critical success. Sight & Sound would name it the Best Movie of 2019. Among the surprises that awaited audiences was a post-credits announcement that Part II was on the horizon. Hogg had intended to shoot them simultaneously, but ran into issues around funding. She feared that potential failure would keep the vision from being fully realized. Given that Part II was an artistic response to Part I, it felt necessary for her to complete the other half.
As a result, it would take two years before Part II began filming. Swinton Byrne mentioned her relief in having that delay. As assumed, Julie matures between the two films despite being in close time proximity. Her amateurish acting decisions informed Part I and gave it an authenticity. Meanwhile, Swinton Byrne’s time since was focused on school. This included teaching in Africa, which helped give her confidence and ground the character in something more authoritative.
The clothing decisions would also change. Hogg took the nostalgic lens as a chance to revel in period details that spoke to her. The soundtrack was reflective of music she listened to in the late 80s. Meanwhile, the wardrobe was often taken directly from Hogg or Swinton’s closets. Whereas Part I featured a wardrobe that was more constricting, Part II was more confident in manner. Even the character based on Richard Ayoade felt reminiscent of prior collaborators who provided ambiguous and unhelpful feedback. This was to be a grander, more emotional tribute to old time musicals and dance films that spoke to Hogg.
Even with the personal details shining through, the director actively chose to not write a traditional screenplay. There would be detailed outlines of plot points she wanted to hit. However, she was intent on the actors improvising their lines in order to better understand their characters. Even with the choreographed conclusion, they were able to delve into something that felt organic. It was shot between June and July 2019.
Like most films of the time, Part II would fall victim to the pandemic. Even with Part I getting a proper release, A24 had postponed a lot of their catalog from 2020 in an effort to have more successful rollouts. This meant that Hogg had more time to fine tune the project and deliver a conclusion that felt personal. In a rare moment of productivity, she would spend part of the press tour for Part II doing the same for her follow-up The Eternal Daughter (2022) which, while featuring Swinton, didn’t feature Swinton Byrne due to a busy schedule. Even then she has commented interest in working with Hogg in the future.
The Souvenir Part II would make its premiere at Cannes in July 2021. The acclaim was immediate with many considering it a sequel that surpassed its predecessor. Despite not receiving any significant awards or nominations, it would get The Palm Dog Award. The film would receive an international release that, while not the most successful A24 film, guaranteed an interest. The word of mouth helped carry it when it arrived through video on demand and lead many to anticipate Swinton Byrne’s potential acting nominations. As before, Sight & Sound named it the Best Film of 2021. However, it would only get nominations (and a few wins) through Gotham Awards and the British Independent Film Awards – including a nomination for Swinton but not Swinton Byrne.
The results would mark one of A24’s highest rated films of the year. Along with the awards, it would earn a 90% on critics aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes. William Stotter of Loud and Clear Reviews lead the praise when suggesting, “Joanna Hogg signs off on her double feature with The Souvenir: Part II, a quietly powerful, meta journey through grief and beyond.” Similarly, Marya E. Gates of Crooked Marquee shared the sentiment when concluding, “Through Julie, Hogg allows the audience to feel through these two films her own memories, her own growth, her own vision of the world as an artist.” Alan Zilberman of Washington City Paper disagreed, believing, “Admirable courage is not enough to work around a fundamental miscalculation: that Hogg thinks we will find her life as interesting as she does.”
All in all, The Souvenir Part II marked an interesting moment in the studio’s history. After eight years of releases, it marked their first adventure into sequels. While they had collaborated with many filmmakers repeatedly, this was the first time a concerted effort was made to create a franchise. The artistic text also helped to define A24’s knack for propping up creative voices. As of 2024, the studio hasn’t created that many franchises built on sequels. The only other name being Ti West, whose X (2022) marked a much different approach to artistic expression. Meanwhile, Hogg would return with The Eternal Daughter a year later which was met with more of a muted and mixed response.
Despite low revenue, The Souvenir Part II was a triumph that remains one of the studios most recognized works. It was a story that was told with passion and vulnerability while also scaling the potential heights of expression. It was a passion project that gave Hogg a much-needed platform to share her story while helping to launch Swinton Byrne’s acting career (as small or big as it will be). It was the much needed boost of adrenaline that Fall 2021 needed and the start of more interesting decisions. Up next was a film that shared the gambling nature of A24 by featuring a recent Oscar winner and a previous collaborator who was taking things in a quieter direction for his own follow-up to an Oscar-nominated work.
Coming Up Next: C’mon C’mon (2021)
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