Aftersun
Cert 15| ★★★★★
Normal People star Paul Mescal shines in this engaging and impressively confident debut feature from Scottish director Charlotte Wells. Aftersun premiered as part of International Critics’ Week during the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, where it won a jury prize. It features a stellar turn from newcomer Frankie Corio, who was picked from more than 800 applicants for the role.
Eleven-year-old Sophie (Corio) is on an all-inclusive holiday at a resort in Turkey with her loving, yet visibly troubled father Calum (Mescal). In between day-trips, sunbathing and mixing with other holidaymakers, Calum does his best to keep his daughter entertained while keeping his own depressive state a secret from her.
As their holiday nears to a close, Calum’s mood goes from quietly subdued to desperately despondent and detached from the world around him.
Twenty years later, Sophie who is about to welcome her first child with her female partner, finds herself haunted by the memory of her father and all the things that remained unsaid between them.
Wells, who has called her film “emotionally autobiographical”, delves deep into her own childhood memories to give us one of the most honest films of the year.
Her ability to capture the innocence of her past self, from a more mature and grown-up point of view is what makes her film into such an unusual piece of filmmaking. It is a brilliant representation of grief.
Aftersun 5
Mescal
Mescal is truly magnificent. His ability to capture the essence of a man struggling to find a reason to stay alive is one of the most visceral performances of his career so far.
For her part, Corio mixes wide-eyed optimism with quiet anxiety in a role that she was born to play.
Wells’ film is above all a film about grief-induced childhood trauma. Using the trusted technique of “show, don’t tell”, she delivers a film that never feels the need to explain or spell out what it is really about.
This a genuinely impressive offering from a young filmmaker who clearly already knows her way around her craft.
