Aftersun
Warning: The following article contains mentions of suicide and depression.
Interspersed throughout the film are chaotic scenes of a rave and Calum dancing.
The next scene is of Calum and Sophie at the airport.
Calum enters the rave and the doors close as the credits roll.
Every character should push you out of your comfort zone in some capacity.
But this wasnt one of those where I was like, I cant do this.
I want to do this, but I cant.
Throughout all of these troubling scenes,there is a general tone of indifference and sadness emanating from Calum.
Little on this vacation seems to bring him joy.
Aftersun is a 2022 drama directed by Charlotte Wells. The film follows a young girl named Sophie who reflects on a vacation she took with her father, Calum, twenty years earlier. Through a series of memories, Sophie attempts to reconcile the loving father she knew with the unresolved aspects of their relationship. Paul Mescal and Frankie Corio star in this introspective exploration of memory and familial connection.
She also brings a camcorder along on the vacation and many scenes are shot from her point of view.
Back in Turkey, Calum and Sophie went to a store where Calum asked Sophie to pick one out.
Though Calum is unable to afford the rug, he later returns without Sophie to purchase it in secret.
This same rug is one that hangs on her wall all these years later.
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Exploring Calum’s Anguish Through Music
Calum refuses to dance or sing multiple times throughoutAftersun.
As an adult, she now has an understanding.
AsAftersunshows, Sophie did have a wonderful time on her trip.
Her father gave that to her, along with a rug to remember it by.
She can take solace in those memories and the happiness she shared with her father.
Writer-director Charlotte Wells made an incredible feature-film debut, withAftersunstill sitting at 96% onRotten Tomatoes.
The fact that the final thing viewers hear inAftersunis Sophie’s child saying “Mama” is especially significant.
What’s more, she’s roughly the same age as Calum.
It’s a genius stroke of storytelling that recontextualizes the entire movie without undermining any of it.
However, she did come up with the idea when looking at old photos of her dad.
But it was a process of discovery.
Wells said it was important to show the scenes as fragmented memories from the daughter.
Shes finally ready to see him, for the last time.
She understands him so much better now.
What would it be like if she could talk to him?
They would still have so much to say to one another.
In a way, Aftersun is an act of imaginative empathy.
Sophie can now look at the things that child Sophie could not see.
Paul Mescal and Frankie Corio star in this introspective exploration of memory and familial connection.
