We have to start stop judging movies for what they are not. And here we should include all film critics, without exception: expectations are up to us, the marketing campaign is up to advertisers, but the film is what it is, and nothing brings what you expect or stop expecting from it. . It’s what happens to ‘The eternal daughter’, a film that is sold as a ghost story but in which the real terror is inside.
We are going to be watching European cinema at the Seville Festival over the next five days and we’ll bring you the reviews of the best yet to come, but I think it’s hard for anyone to beat the combo of Tilda Swinton, Joanna Hogg, Martin Scorsese and A24. As long as you like movies, it’s rare that you’re not salivating.
Mother and daughter
‘The eternal daughter’ doesn’t care what you expect of her: After the two parts of ‘The souvenir’, Hogg is his own voice in the world of cinema who doesn’t need to prove anything at all. And, despite everything, in each shot of this film he shows that he still has a lot to tell. In this case, what begins as a week between mother and daughter in an almost empty hotel ends up revealing itself as an essay about the pains that we carry inside, our inner emptiness and, ultimately, the power of stories.
The film does not stop to make everything clear to you from the beginning, and it will not even resolve all your doubts throughout the footage: will tell you, with a pinch of salt, what is just and necessary for you to understand the drama, the characters, their life full of disappointments, reproaches, apathy and loneliness. But for this he uses kind dialogues and a strange atmosphere that flies over the entire film, giving a Lynchian air to a film that at the same time has nothing of Lynch.
‘The eternal daughter’ is amazing, and it is increasingly rare to use this word to refer to a movie. The characters are not only three-dimensional, but also pose a challenge for the viewer, who will leave the film with inarticulate doubts about what he has just seen. As I say, it doesn’t matter how this movie is sold to you or what you expect from it: it is a mature film that believes in the intelligence of those who are watching it. Rare avis.
How can I make you happy?
Is ‘The eternal daughter’ a horror movie? Is it a melodrama? Is it intrigue, mystery, thriller, even with hints of comedy? Yes to everything, and at the same time to nothing. Hogg’s movie refuses to confine itself to one genderand creates his own: a mother-son film in which sadness hovers over every interaction and terror hides in a seemingly happy birthday present.
She’s not perfect, of course: As much as we love the moves she makes with the deck, he plays with the marked cards and cheats. If you are one of those who has to look for reason in each plot excuse looking for supposed “script holes”, this is not your movie: the director does a perfect magic trick, and although you already know that magic does not exist, you clap your hands in wonder. It doesn’t make any sense for the rabbit to come out of a hat. And that.
This great little movie only makes sense with Tilda Swinton in an amazing double lead role as mother and daughter that could be shady but is disheartening, proving once again that she is the fittest actress of the moment. Swinton cries like nobody else, smiles like nobody else and lives like nobody else: her perfect facial expressions are perfect additions to the air of strangeness that hangs over ‘The eternal daughter’. It is a slow, fragile work, in which each shot looks like it could break into a thousand pieceseach scene is a small blow to the heart and darkness takes over the frames as much as the soul of its protagonists.
(un)happy birthday
Accustomed as we are to linear movies in which a single plot is followed and what has happened is remembered over and over again, like little “in previous episodes” in case you have looked at your mobile too much, a film in which everything is hidden in the small details, the looks, the gestures, the stories, the tears, the paranoia and the obsession.
Secretly shot by Hogg and produced by Scorsese, ‘The eternal daughter’ he does not owe anything to anyone nor does he want to make concessions to the general public. And it shows: it is an independent film in the purest style of the word, because A24 only got in at the end to distribute it. For better or worse, he has something that much more famous and blockbuster directors can only dream of having: his own voice.
Although, except for great surprise, it will be seen and not seen when it opens, I advise you to make the effort to go see it on a big screen. Because not all “must watch” movies have to have explosions, action and superheroes. Sometimes the looks, the gestures and the silences also belong to a dark room and a communal experience. ‘The eternal daughter’ deserves, from the outset, your respect. Your appreciation will be earned by herself.