Honor Swinton Byrne reunites with mother Tilda Swinton on The Souvenir sequel

Honor Swinton Byrne has spoken about reuniting with her mother Tilda Swinton on a second film in The Souvenir Part II.

The duo play mother and daughter in the movie, a follow-up to the acclaimed 2019 film The Souvenir.

The second instalment of director Joanna Hogg’s semi-autobiographical account of experiences at film school finds Swinton Byrne’s character Julie grieving the death of her boyfriend and seeking comfort from her mother.

Arriving at the film’s premiere at the BFI London Film Festival, Swinton Byrne told the PA news agency: “I’m just always learning from my mum, I feel like not necessarily within film, but every day I’m always learning how to be as similar to her as I can in many ways.

“But coming back to it was so much fun because I think the relationship between Julie and her mother reaches such a beautiful conclusion in the second one, they come together so much more and they find similarities that they hadn’t found before so that definitely was a different journey. But me and my mum were just doing our thing all the time.”

Hogg always intended the story be told in two parts but the films were shot two years apart and the actress said: “I always felt so safe knowing that, coming away from the first part, I was coming back for the second part.

“It’s not ended because I could come back and revisit it, knowing that Julie was going to take a new upwards trajectory on her journey, like a flight really.

“It gave me such hope and joy. I see Julie as a pal that is finding her feet after a horrible thing in her life.”

Asked about the prospect of now saying goodbye to the character, she said: “I’m never saying goodbye to Julie, there is a little Julie in everybody I think, there is a little vulnerability.”

The Souvenir Part II will be released in UK cinemas on January 21 2022.