Joanna Hogg’s remarkable The Eternal Daughter screens at The Lexi from 1st December. Using the structure of a classic haunted-house tale to explore a mother-daughter relationship, the film marks a subtle departure from writer-director Hogg’s signature naturalistic style. Unusually, she has also chosen to shoot in the rare 166:1 aspect ratio – a vintage European frame, similar to the old-fashioned square Academy ratio but with a little more width for capturing atmosphere. We love a niche aspect ratio! Now booking.
The opening scenes follow a mother and daughter as they check into a grand, faded, otherwise deserted hotel for a birthday weekend. As they converse, it becomes clear that the old house is a former family home. Hogg picks up where she left off with longtime collaborator Tilda Swinton - who plays both mother and daughter - and Lexi regulars who saw The Souvenir and The Souvenir II may recall the characters of Rosalind and Julie. If you missed these wonderful films, however, fear not because The Eternal Daughter very much works as a standalone story.
The exquisitely observed small talk between mum and daughter is full of telling near-misses and attempts at emotional connection - such a hallmark of Hogg’s screenwriting. The haunting is played subtly but is key to the emotional heart of the film. Like all of Joanna Hogg ‘s work this is a coolly observed, almost formal film which nonetheless gets at a universal truth: how well can any of us know our mothers? What is utterly engaging from start to finish is watching a filmmaker this accomplished play with genre – and seeing an actor of Swinton’s calibre, doubled, is equally mesmerising. The Eternal Daughter made me want to revisit Celine Sciamma’s 2021 gem Petite Maman, in which we see a young girl somehow playing alongside her mother as a child. It also has a striking resonance with another very British “family haunting”, the devastating All of Us Strangers by Andrew Haigh, which premiered at the LFF this year and is currently slated for a February release – look out for this in our 2024 programme, as it is superb and I can’t wait to share it with our Lexi audience!
Rosie Greatorex - Cinema and Programme Director
Press round-up
"How does one let go of one's mother?" - Tilda Swinton on artistic integrity, acting and the afterlife, in The Guardian
"What is happening in this ghost-hotel? Sometimes it looks like a location for Rattigan’s Separate Tables – but also appears to contain the final scenes from Kubrick’s 2001" - Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
"A feast of atmospheric delights" - Steph Green, Empire
"Swinton is no stranger to exploring left-field casting ideas, but this is the first time she has played her own mother" - Catherine Bray, first-look review from the film’s Venice premiere, Little White Lies.
