The Eternal Daughter

A film with Tilda Swinton is always worth watching and so is this one! Though I have to say that I expected a little bit more after I read about the film at the Viennale (Vienna International Film Festival). What irritated me were the tags ghost story, supernatural, spooky and so on. Not that I expected a real horror movie, far from it. But not such a lame attempt of a ghost story.

The film starts out with a scene of a foggy country street and a lonely taxi coming along, quite evocative of old Hammer films of the sixties or early seventies. The main setting in an old country mansion turned hotel was a good choice. As was the rather unfriendly receptionist/waitress/housekeeper who raises a lot of questions in the mind of the viewer and is a highlight of the film. The mother and daughter conflict is very subtly done and evolves beautifully the longer they stay at the hotel, and the absence of other guests is quite unsettling.

But, being in a lonely hotel would make even completely relaxed people jumpy and here we have someone who is in a very difficult stage of her life and we could expect much more unusual things for her to hear or see other than what we get here. Tilda Swinton does her best to make us fell uncomfortable, but with this script there is not much to do. A little fog, some creaky trees and a shot of the moon, my, this is what you get in every other episode of Midsomer Murders, I am sorry to say! That is not upsetting or disturbing anymore, in fact it is a cliché and more of a parody. Besides, we all have seen films of people in empty hotels before and therefore you have to bring some new ideas to this setting.

When the film ended I was disappointed, there would have been chances to lead the viewer around but they are missed. I have guessed from the beginning what is reveiled at the end and that did not satisfy me either, I hoped that some twist eluded me, but no.

Honestly. If anyone says "Oh Darling!" one more time! Tilda Swinton is "Julie", a film-maker with a bit of writer's block who takes her elderly mother (I think she is called "Rosamund" but anyway, think Tilda Swinton but this time in a bit of latex and some of Margaret Thatcher's attire) to a remote country hotel. It turns out that this used to be a family home for her mother and she spent much of her younger life there with her aunt. From room to room they reminisce about what it used to be, what went on here - all whilst the wind outside blows as if we were watching "Black Narcissus" (1947). What happens now? Well, very little... There is lots of desperately polite and earnest dialogue - beetroot or feta? - as the two women edge ever closer to a birthday that is clearly tinged with increasingly sad, but unspecified, memories. The denouement - well it's a surprise to nobody, not even the frequently scene-stealing "Louis" (Swinton's own dog). Carly-Sophia Davies is quite effective as the downright disinterested hotel receptionist but that's about all we have to inject any life into this rather charmless and disappointing "ghost" story that really does underwhelm. Joanna Hogg definitely has a safe zone for her films. Well-heeled English folks in the media industry with even more well-heeled parents who all live in a world with little to do with any reality most of us will ever be able to relate to. A repetitive flute refrain does all that it can to introduce some mystery, but by half way through I was just "You are very welcome"'d out. It will look just as good on the television as it does on cinema screen so I'd save your cash, if I were you.

'The Eternal Daughter' is listed as a mystery drama. The only mystery I had an hour into the film was what exactly the point of me watching it was supposed to be. The film has no plot. It has no intrigue. It has no purpose to exist. This was a very disappointing experience.

Short of Tilda Swinton (in dual roles) being her usual watchable self it was pretty hard to find redeeming qualities in this film. It's is extremely slow - which is always going to be the case when we are effectively just watching a woman's uneventful stay at a hotel.

Thankfully this one is reasonably short, but I can tell you those 96 minutes will draaag. A generous 4/10.

Film maker Julie (Tilda Swinton) brings her mother, Rosalind (also Tilda Swinton) to an old hotel in the countryside as it approaches her birthday, hoping to make a film about her. This was Rosalind's family home when she was young and Julie hopes this will help her recall events from her youth. It does though resurrect uncomfortable memories for both of them.

I'm not an unqualified fan of Hogg's work and indeed here it more or less seemed clear story wise what the direction of travel was going to be. So whilst this is more drama about mother / daughter relationships and the sadness of our past, it is also a creepy, atmospheric ghost story full of really fun ideas - why are they seemingly the only guests, what's with the rude receptionist / waitress etc. It's never scary - not that sort of film - but ultimately it all works and fits nicely together thanks to Hogg's direction and 2 excellent performances by Swinton.

Normally I like most of the movies Tilda Swinton starred in, not all, but most of them.

"The Eternal Daughter" could have been something more than what it is if perhaps more suspense had been added, maybe a few more characters. It could have been a great "Ghost Story", but probably the director did not want this from the film she created. The scenery and the entire "environment" from the hotel would have permitted that.

The film wants to emphasize the mother-daughter relationship and the mark that some people leave on our lives, even after they pass away.

However, I was disappointed by the somewhat slow pace in which the story was conceived.