The defence The Sentimental Softie
“Sincerity is not manipulation.”
The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.
Back to trending 
The Souvenir
Drama · Romance · 2019
A shy but ambitious film student falls into an intense, emotionally fraught relationship with a charismatic but untrustworthy older man.
Movie details
The Souvenir
“The past never stays in focus.”
2019 Drama · Romance 2h 0m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
6.1 / 10
Community rating
A shy but ambitious film student falls into an intense, emotionally fraught relationship with a charismatic but untrustworthy older man.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over The Souvenir?
For the defence
The Sentimental Softie
“You came to feel something, and you will.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Cool Ironist
“Feeling things is a little embarrassing.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
Newness
Romance · 2017
In contemporary Los Angeles, two millennials navigating a social media–driven hookup culture begin a relationship that pushes both emotional and physical boundaries.
The Mother
Drama · 2003
A grandmother has a passionate affair with a man half her age, who is also sleeping with her daughter.
Laurel Canyon
Drama · 2003
When an uptight young man and his fiancée move into his libertine mother's house, the resulting clash of life attitudes shakes everyone up.
The Souvenir: Part II
Drama · 2021
In the aftermath of her tumultuous relationship with a charismatic and manipulative older man, Julie begins to untangle her fraught love for him in making her graduation film, sorting fact from his elaborately constructed fiction.
If These Walls Could Talk 2
Romance · 2000
The stories of three lesbian couples -- who live in the same house at different periods of time -- who are at a crossroads in their lives. In 1961, Edith loses her lover, Abby, to a stroke. Linda and Amy struggle with feminist issues in 1972. And, in 2000, Kal and Fran try to have a baby with the help of sperm donor.
Below Her Mouth
Drama · 2017
An unexpected affair quickly escalates into a heart-stopping reality for two women whose passionate connection changes their lives forever.
Hounddog
Drama · 2008
A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.
Malcolm & Marie
Drama · 2021
As a filmmaker and his girlfriend return home from his movie premiere, smoldering tensions and painful revelations push them toward a romantic reckoning.
Strange Weather
Drama · 2016
Years after her son's suicide, a woman longs to confront both the past and a friend of his who took his business idea.
Lucky Them
Drama · 2013
More interested in partying and flirting with young musicians than work, veteran rock journalist Ellie Klug has one last chance to prove her value to her magazine’s editor: a no-stone-unturned search to discover what really happened to long lost rock god, Matt Smith, who also happens to be her ex-boyfriend. Teaming up with an eccentric amateur documentary filmmaker, Ellie hits the road in search of answers.
Where it lives
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Joanna Hogg
Written by
Joanna Hogg
Honor Swinton Byrne
Julie
Tom Burke
Anthony
Tilda Swinton
Rosalind
Richard Ayoade
Patrick
Ariane Labed
Garance
Jaygann Ayeh
Marland
Jack McMullen
Jack
Court is in session
Put The Souvenir on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Cool Ironist
“The strings are showing.”
Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.