(spoiler free)
Joanna Hogg’s The Eternal Daughter is probably the least surprising movie of 2022. From the moment it opens, you can immediately see where it’s heading. However, Tilda Swinton magnifies the screen in one of the best performances of her career.
Swinton portrays Julie, a filmmaker who takes her mother (also played by Swinton) to a hotel where no one else is staying. She plans to make a film about her. She secretly records conversations she is having with her and moments where she recalls traumatic events that occurred at this exact hotel, which is only currently populated by a rude receptionist (Carly-Sophia Davies) and a groundskeeper (Joseph Mydell) who totally isn’t a riff of Scatman Crothers’ Dick Halloran in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. The atmosphere is eerie, there may or may not be a ghost in the hotel, and strange sounds are heard throughout the night, which prompts her dog (and Julie) to become agitated while her mother sleeps the night away. What’s going on? Is any of it real? It’s for you to find out…
It won’t take long for you to figure out where The Eternal Daughter is going. I won’t spoil it, but it’s pretty easy to guess. But the plot’s predictability almost didn’t matter because of how enraptured I was by its incredible atmosphere. This is one of those films that I wish I would’ve seen in a theater, to truly envelop myself in its intricate soundscapes and quiet but thoughtful music, but alas, it never played in my area. Still, Ed Rutherford’s incredible cinematography, which is a mixture of old style, grandiose shots à la Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca, with zippy smash-zooms à la 1970s horror, more akin to Richard Donner’s The Omen, immediately transports you inside the film’s oddly funny, and strange world.
From the look of the trailer, you would never imagine The Eternal Daughter to be a laugh riot, but Swinton’s performance as Julie is at times very funny, as well as terribly devastating. Scenes in which she interacts with the unnamed receptionist are sharply written and terrifically acted by Carly-Sophia Davies. Other scenes in which she confronts her mother about her past aren’t easy to watch. You almost forget that Swinton is playing a dual role here – portraying two distinct characters who seem further apart than they think. It’s another great showcase for Swinton, who continuously proves why she’s one of the most highly versatile actors working today, and has never given a bad performance, even if some of the films she has starred in over the years have not been good.
Thankfully, The Eternal Daughter is very good. I would like to talk about the specific themes of the film, and its implications for the plot, but that would mean spoiling key elements. And while I mentioned its predictability, the ending is still a gut-punch, and I would even say far more effective if you know what’s coming. You think you’ll be able to confront it, but it will always devastate you. Now that’s the kind of film I would love revisiting on the big screen, should the opportunity ever occur.
Written by Maxance Vincent
★★★★
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