Aftersun Movie Review

Aftersun (2022)

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Written by: Charlotte Wells
Directed by: Charlotte Wells
Starring: Paul Mescal, Frankie Corio, Celia Rowlson-Hall
Rated: R
Watch the trailer

Plot
Sophie reflects on the shared joy and private melancholy of a holiday she took with her father twenty years earlier. Memories real and imagined fill the gaps as she tries to reconcile the father she knew with the man she didn't.

Verdict
It's less a movie and more a hauntingly beautiful moment between a father and daughter. The strength of this movie is how much information it conveys that's between the lines. There's a distance between the two that they can never quite overcome. We can guess that the father is likely divorced from her mother and that unseen yet present emotional baggage weighs on them both. In just a couple scenes this conveys that vacation stuck with her forever. As a child she likely loved spending time with her dad but as an adult she realizes her father was struggling.
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Review
This semi-autobiographical movie is Charlotte Wells' directorial debut.

Without any context or explanation, this looks like a father and daughter on vacation in Turkey. There's a lot between the lines. I wondered about the family dynamic. A mother is never mentioned, and I guessed it was a divorce. Teenage Sophie (Frankie Corio) records the vacation on her new video camera, footage we see throughout the film.

Paul Mescal, Frankie Corio play Calum, Sophie

Early in the movie, we see her father Calum (Paul Mescal) sneak a smoke after she's gone to bed. It's telling, one of a number of things he hides from her. Calum seems to be depressed. While he tries to look like he's enjoying himself with Sophie, when they're apart it's clear he's putting on a face for her. He has several self help books. There's a disconnect between who he tries to be with her, and who he allows himself to be when they're apart. Then there's the difference between the two of them and the other families we see on vacation. We don't know the other families are happier, but I'm sure that's how it feels to Calum.

We see this trip, a father and a daughter. We wonder about the state of their relationship. There's always this distance between them, and there's so much we don't know. It's clear they care for each. Is the gulf between them Calum's personal struggles? He's grappling with loneliness. It could be that Sophie primarily lives with her mother, and they have trouble relating to each other with so much time apart. Maybe spending time with her is bittersweet as he knows she'll be away after this vacation.

Paul Mescal plays Calum

It's a simple film but haunting. All these things they can't have, but on this vacation, in that moment, they do. This might be the only vacation they had together. I'd be willing to bet they didn't have any more vacations like this after. It seems to be a core memory for adult Sophie, but even with this memory we see who her father was with her and who he is apart from here. It's only as an adult that we can get any kind of perspective and begin to wonder what we, and Sophie, didn't realize as children.