MOVIE OF THE WEEK January 6, 2023: AFTERSUN
A woman’s sun-drenched recollections of a childhood holiday with her troubled father become poignant and melancholy as she revisits them two decades later in Scottish writer/director Charlotte Wells’ impressive feature debut Aftersun. Boasting excellent, authentic performances from stars Paul Mescal and young newcomer Frankie Corio, the film builds viewers’ empathy as it explores the nature of memory and the main characters’ loving but bumpy father-daughter relationship.
The bulk of the film’s action takes place in the late 1990s, when 11-year-old Sophie (Corio) and her father, Calum (Mescal), are on vacation in Turkey. Their hotel may be a bit sketchy (it’s under construction, and the room they’re assigned doesn’t exactly have beds for both of them), but they’re up for the adventure and ready to have fun. Or at least it seems that way, but Calum is trying to hide the fact that he’s wrestling with some significant challenges. The details are never laid out, but all signs point to depression and suicidal ideation, especially once it becomes clear that this holiday was the last time Sophie saw her father.
The movie’s framing scenes of Sophie as an adult — viewing camcorder footage recorded by herself and Calum during the trip — establish the emotional significance of the memories from the holiday, a time when Sophie was gaining new awareness both of herself and of her father and his fragility. The thrill of her first kiss makes her feel older in a good way, while finding herself in a protective, caretaking role toward the man who’s supposed to be doing that for her sparks feelings of confusion. This time with her father is clearly a defining moment of her life.
Wells’ subtle, naturalistic script doesn’t offer much exposition or explanation; this is dramatic cinema verite, and you have to pay attention to understand what’s happening and how the characters are feeling (especially if Scottish brogues aren’t natural to your ear). But, on the other hand, you don’t have to catch every word of the dialogue or every exchange between Sophie and Calum to feel the connection between their characters and grasp the dynamic of their relationship. Wells’ direction of Corio and Mescal yields such strong, lived-in performances that watching them play out Sophie and Calum’s story feels like being on vacation and eavesdropping on your fellow travelers. You want to know more about who they are and how they got here, but you know that their paths will only cross with yours for a brief moment. Aftersun makes that moment a memorable one. — Betsy Bozdech
Team #MOTW’s comments:
Marilyn Ferdinand Memory is a tricky beast—slippery, nostalgia-tinged, unreliable. First-time feature writer and director Charlotte Wells explores the mystery of memory in Aftersun, an intimate look at 30-year-old Calum (Paul Mescal) and his 11-year-old daughter Sophie (Frankie Corio), who are vacationing at a Turkish resort off the coast of the Aegean Sea. Not much out of the ordinary happens, yet the worries Calum has partially buried and the curiosity Sophie feels toward him and the outside world simmer below the surface of their attempts to “have fun.” Mescal and Corio have a wonderful chemistry, and Wells’ direction of them teases at truths that she never fully reveals. If the film is semi-autobiographical, then Wells has found a thoughtful way to try to understand her own experiences and, just as thoughtfully, universalize them.
Leslie Combemale There are too few narrative films that consider the impact and importance of fatherhood from a realistic perspective. Aftersun, which is both written and directed by Charlotte Wells, comes at it through a decidedly female lens, making representation of the father/daughter relationship all the more interesting, and, one might argue, understated. Though presented as a tale of one childhood summer vacation, it is really a film about the power of observation and the persistence of memory. I consider Aftersun one of the best films of the year, and hope both Paul Mescal and Frankie Corio find themselves, if not recognized during awards season, awash in offers for both indies and bigger studio projects going forward.
Jennifer Merin Charlotte Wells’ Aftersun is an extraordinarily sensitive and emotionally engaging first feature that delves into the memories that a young mother has about the childhood vacation she took with her father. The beautifully crafted film centers on Sophie’s self-searching introspection about how and why things have changed. The performances are magnificent.
Pam Grady: Charlotte Wells makes an arresting directing debut with this evocative, elliptical drama capturing the relationship between an 11-year-old girl and her 30-year-old father during a vacation to Turkey. Twenty years on and the same age her dad turned at end of the holiday, Sophie (Celia Rowlson-Hall) recalls both sharp and fuzzy details of not just the trip but of her pa Calum’s (Paul Mescal) demeanor. Sweet-natured and patient with young Sophie (Frankie Corio) but also pensive and a little sad in his private moments, there are clearly things happening in his life his daughter is neither privy to nor capable of understanding. The film unfolds in kaleidoscopic, fragmented shards of memory that present a puzzle to the adult Sophia and to the audience: What memories are real? Which are invented to more fully flesh out what happened that summer? Wells captures both the unreliability of memory and the impossibility of truly knowing even those we love the most, and she is beautifully abetted by Mescal and first-time actor Corio’s vivid, poignant performances.
Sandie Angulo Chen: Writer-director Charlotte Wells’ feature film debut Aftersun is a powerful, masterfully acted exploration of love and understanding. A subtle and revelatory drama, this is ultimately the story of a newly separated young father Calum (Paul Mescal) and his 11-year-old daughter Sophie (Frankie Corio) on vacation together at a budget resort in Turkey. While on the trip, Sophie is perceptive enough to notice her father’s unhappiness but too young to process it. They swim, sunbathe, eat, and lounge. But there’s another story at play here that is tender, touching, and a little heartbreaking. Mescal and Corio are terrific and share a genuine chemistry playing a young parent and tween child. Well’s movie is a beautiful character study that will resonate with audiences long after the credits roll.
Loren King Writer-director Charlotte Wells’s poignant father-daughter drama Aftersun is a lyrical, impressionistic childhood reminiscence that weaves past and present to create the textured experience of memory. The deceptively simple story centers on 11 year-old Sophie (Frankie Corio, making a stunning debut) who, in the early 1990s, is enjoying a vacation at a budget resort in Turkey with her caring, 30 year-old father Calum (Paul Mescal) who is divorced from Sophie’s mom. Wells and the film’s editor Blair McClendon construct a visual and aural experience that brims with elegiac melancholy aided by their deft use of camcorder footage and intricate sound design. Read full review.
Susan Wloszczyna: Aftersun director and writer Charlotte Wells looks back at the ‘80s when she, age eleven, and her divorced Scottish soon-to be 30-year-old father Calum (Paul Mescal) shared a vacation together, as they have annually from then to the present day. This is a memory movie that washes over us with melancholy feelings, as daughter and he bond with each other. Sophie (Frankie Corio) and her dad meet up for a weekend at the same Turkish resort that they’ve frequented for years. There are signals that Calum, the dad, is reckless and has some issues, including a cast on his arm that he ultimately cuts off himself. Meanwhile, Sophie becomes friends with a boy her age and she receives her first kiss. In between, they share games of pool, trips to the arcade, and chatting. The sound track dredges up old hits such as REM’s “Losing My Religion,” Chumbawamba’s “Tubthumping,” All Saints’ ”Never Ever,” Catatonia’s “Road Rage and, even. “The Macarena.” There is a sense of emotional grace on screen between father and child as Sophie is just a step away from adolescence. Viewers might be nervous about how Sophie sometimes might put herself in harm’s way. We see photos of the grown-up Sophie’s life, including partner and a child of her own. She is also angry at her father in her adult life.
Liz Whittemore One of the most surprisingly intimate films centering on a father-daughter relationship, Charlotte Wells‘ Aftersun, hits you square in the chest, over and over. Eleven-year-old Sophie and her father, Calum, go on their annual holiday. A resort in Turkey is the backdrop of a screenplay that has three distinct narratives playing out simultaneously. And by that, I mean Aftersun is a coming-of-age film, a story of depression and the unbreakable bond between a parent and their child. Paul Mescal is extraordinary. The emotional highs and lows draw you into the film. If you’re a parent, they also cause concern for Sophie’s well-being. Frankie Corio is a revelation as Sophie. She is funny, spontaneous, observant, and fearless. Mescal and Corio share an onscreen bond that feels genuinely familial. If you didn’t know better, you would swear this film was a documentary. Charlotte Wells has given audiences an exquisite gem in Aftersun. You must seek it out.
Cate Marquis Melancholic and sweet, Aftersun focuses on a Scottish woman recalling a vacation in Turkey with her dad when she was 11 years old. Told through the girl’s eyes and through the videos, snapshots and images of the trip, writer/director Charlotte Wells captures the lazy, sun-splashed days of father and daughter together at an all-inclusive seaside resort .The resort has its issues but the girl relishes the rare time with the dad who lives in far-off London, but as the grown woman re-watches videos of the trip and recalls memories, she sees her father’s sadness in a way she could not at age eleven.
FILM DETAILS:
Title: Aftersun
Director: Charlotte Wells
Release Date: October 21, 2022
Running Time: 102 minutes
Language: English
Screenwriters: Charlotte Wells
Distribution Company: A24
Website
AWFJ Movie of the Week Panel Members: Sandie Angulo Chen, Betsy Bozdech, Leslie Combemale, Marilyn Ferdinand, Pam Grady, Loren King, Cate Marquis, Jennifer Merin, Nell Minow, Sherin Nicole, Liz Whittemore, Susan Wloszczyna
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Edited by Jennifer Merin
