The Eternal Daughter

'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.

There's a hotel that's quite vacant and disturbed, full of ghosts that haunt themselves, it's quite absurd, lots of creepy mist and fog, a really, really lovely dog, and a receptionist presents with some discord. A daughter with her mother settle in, proceed to babble on, the dialogue's quite thin, if you'd made a reservation, you'd need more than just salvation, if you had the room next door, double or twin. There's little to engage or get you thinking, as events unfold, or don't, you'll just start blinking, then your eyelids slowly close, just like Louis you will repose, and into slumber, start to fall, gradually sinking.

I am shocked to see the negativity in so many of these reviews - personally, the movie blew me away and I thought it was quite fabulous.

It is an understated story portraying entirely one woman's psychological and emotional state at a particular point in her life. All of the scenery, the direction, the pace, the objects, the marvellous cinematography perfectly came together as a crystallized whole. The entire atmosphere of the movie can be thought of as an externalization of the protagonist's mind, her character traits, and her feeling of 'lowkey' entrapment.

There's not much by way of a plot, and there's not a second where the movie speeds up - it moves at its own languid, disquieting pace from start to finish. Much is left unsaid, unexplained - there is little solid structure to latch onto, so the only way to watch this movie is to surrender to Swinton's terrific + intelligent performance and let the scenes speak for themselves.

(Oh, and I thought the 'twist' was brilliant - it really elevated the entire movie for me.)

This is not a horror or a mystery movie. This is a drama disguised as a drama/horror mystery. And that's why it fails.

Swinton is amazing as always. It's unreal how convincing she is playing both the mother and the daughter. I mean, i was moved by "their" relationship, these were adorable characters. I really felt their feelings for "each other" and that is kinda insane because the viewer forgets that they are the same person. Hence the 5 stars.

However, this is not a good movie. I didn't mind the slow pace, but this movie has the most unnecessary twist of all time. Unnecessary, illogical and, dare i say, conniving. Because there are some scenes that contradict this particular twist, during this movie. Most of the people see it coming from the beginning of the movie, but then, the director convince the viewer that they got it wrong. And in the end, the thing that most of the people suspected, happened. Without any logical or paranormal explanation. Thus, as a viewer i feel cheated and i can't rate it higher.

This would be a much better movie as an art drama. No twists, no surprises. Just a mother and a daughter, their relationship and their feelings. I would enjoy this movie. You have Tilda Swinton in your movie, you don't need twists and turns. Go full drama, realistic as it gets. Psychological drama-mystery horror is another genre, much more complicated than it seems.

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.