| Director | Joanna Hogg |
|---|---|
| Genre | drama film |
| Runtime | 119 min |
| Country | United Kingdom, United States |
| Box office | $2 million |
In 1984, Julie, a film student, intends to make a film about a boy, his mother, and their life in the city of Sunderland. She lives in a Knightsbridge flat with another student and his girlfriend. She meets Anthony, a well-to-do man who works at the Foreign Office, who moves in with her after her flatmate moves out. Anthony leaves a postcard with a picture of the girl in the painting called The Souvenir by Jean-Honoré Fragonard. He later takes her to the gallery where the painting is hung. Julie says the girl looks sad, while Anthony says she looks determined.
Anthony travels to Paris and returns with some lingerie, which he asks Julie to put on. While in bed, she notices some needle marks on his arm but doesn't ask about them. Anthony frequently asks Julie for money, and she starts having to pay their restaurant bills and has to borrow from her parents.
Julie and Anthony have dinner with two of Anthony's friends, who reveal to Julie when he has left the room that Anthony is a heroin addict. Julie is taken aback but does not mention it to Anthony.
Anthony explains over a meal at Harrods that he has had relationships with three other girls, including trips to Venice with at least one of them, who appears to have committed suicide while on the trip. He invites Julie to go to Venice with him.
One evening, she returns to find that her flat has been broken into, and her valuable jewellery is missing. Later, after their trip to Venice, Anthony admits to doing it but says he didn't tell her to keep her from feeling bad. Julie becomes upset, but Anthony manages to convince her he had a good reason for doing so, even though he doesn't elaborate, insinuating it is related to work and not to his heroin habit. Julie starts noticing when Anthony is on heroin, and she attends a self-help group. She starts to confront him sometimes but doubts herself, and he manipulates and gaslights her. She begins to take on the responsibility of his addiction.
Julie returns home one evening to find a strange man in her apartment that Anthony must have let in. She also catches an illness from what she's being exposed to through Anthony. Finally, after finding out he was arrested, Julie asks Anthony to move out.
Julie begins to put herself back together after the breakup and progresses in her film work, to the happiness of her friends and professors. Anthony's mother calls Julie frequently in an attempt to find him.
Anthony shows up again and appears clean long enough for Julie to invite him back in with her. He goes through withdrawal in front of her but eventually starts using heroin again. Then he goes missing and is later found dead, having overdosed in a public toilet at the Wallace Collection - the gallery in which The Souvenir is hung.