The Souvenir Part III?
A W Magazine interview with Tilda Swinton has the prolific actress basically confirming that there are plans to continue Joanna Hogg’s ‘Souvenir’ films into a third chapter, “the characters will continue. We like the challenge. We like hills to climb” said Swinton.
I thought the second film, aptly titled “The Souvenir: Part II,” was an improvement over the less involving initial instalment. Both garnered the most glowing of reviews, but far less enthusiastic responses from mainstream audiences. The first chapter has a tepid 6.4 rating on IMDB, an astoundingly bad 36% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and a horrendous $1.7 million box-office. If the term “critic-proof” ever existed for a film, this would be it.
In my 07.11.21 piece from Cannes, titled ”The Souvenir: Chapter Two’ Widens the Divide Between Critics and Audiences,” I wrote:
“One thing some detractors of “The Souvenir” films may not get, or maybe they do and just don’t care, is that they purposely meander. Every mundane gesture or stilted silence in these two chapters seems to come straight from the personal experiences of its director Joanna Hogg. That may not be enough to convince some that these are a great set of movies, but, hey, at least those naysayers can understand what all the fuss is about and why critics are gushing non-stop over them.”