52 Films by Women Vol 7. 11. THE ETERNAL DAUGHTER (Director: Joanna Hogg)
The Eternal Daughter , English writer-director Joanna Hogg’s sixth feature, is the arthouse equivalent of a quota quickie. Single location, small cast, one member of whom doubles up, and a short running time. It has thematic connections to Hogg’s previous film, The Souvenir Part II , which examined a film student’s response to grief. That was a fiesta compared this latest work, which takes its time to reveal what viewers might perceive at an early point – I was alive to the possibility of the film’s eventual revelation from the first scene. There are some droll Hogg-isms (not a word but should be). However, general audiences will be bored. The film will have a hard time finding cinema distribution, its star, Oscar-winner Tilda Swinton not exactly being a marquee name – a Marquise, on the other hand, not hard to imagine. That said, I don’t doubt its sincerity. Hogg is not a trifling director. This film means something. I confess to being quite shocked by the banal opening sequenc...