Aftersun : A Father and Time

                                            Aftersun : A Father and Time

In the center, an 11 year old girl (Sophie) lies asleep in the bed. On the balcony beyond, seen through the glass door, the girl’s father  (Callum) is struggling to light a cigarette as his right hand is put in a hard body cast. Mission accomplished, Callum sways back and forth rhythmically, arms moving in the dreamy approximation of tai chi moves. It’s not quite clear what’s going on with him, since the camera doesn’t move any closer, and there’s a barrier separating us from him.

 This is a time of solitude for the father at the end of the day when his daughter is fast asleep. Sophie’s deep breathing provides the rhythm for Callum’s movements, and there’s something eerie about the movement. The 11 year old girl sleeps through it all. 

But what is ‘it’ , exactly?

                                                                                                Image Source: The Conversation 

Scottish-born , New-York based writer-director Charlotte Wells’s debut feature Aftersun (2022) is a beautifully daring, emotionally piercing, and  gracefully understated tale of love and loss. It stars beloved Irish thespian Paul Mescal as Callum  and lovely screen newcomer Frankie Corio as Sophie. 

Aftersun has been generating excitement throughout the cinema world since it was released in Cannes in May, 2022. It is quite easy to see why it has created such a buzz since its premiere. A brilliantly assured adventurous  work is an emotionally riveting coming of age drama that picks apart themes of love and loss in a manner that it almost seems accidental. But don't worry, Wells knows what she's doing, and her storytelling is as precise as it is piercing. 

                                                                                                                                                                             Image Source: Reddit

A story that’s profoundly personal, the roots of Aftersun lay in flipping through of herself as a child and struck by how young her father looked. 

Aftersun portrays the beautiful relationship between a young father and his daughter while they’re enjoying vacation in Turkey in the late 90s. It also portrayed the occasional friction between the duo, nothing too toxic, nothing too dramatic. But the depths, as they say, are sounded. The child is perceptive and senses things. She senses things more than her father thinks she does .

                                                                                                                                                        Image Source: Film Police Reviews 

This movie is clearly told from Sophie’s point of view. But there are scenes when Sophie is not present. The film then is from adult Sophie’s point of view who is now a parent herself, trying to understand what her father must have been going through. She knows her own memories of the vacation. But what was he feeling? 

Aftersun , despite its delicate and heartwarming undertone, it was very certain that something was not right. And an anticipation of something shattering to happen keeps testing the viewer's restlessness. This movie is profoundly beautiful. It is beautiful with its amazing yet tragic story, melancholy cinematography, acting with talented and natural presence and ethereal direction. 

Led by the unalloyed performance of Paul Mescal and Frankie Corio, is simply the work of pure genius about the reminiscence of people closest to us, yet never really known. Charlotte Wells is an extraordinary talent to follow. Easily one of the  best works of 2022.

Since its premiere , Aftersun has garnered a large fanbase with 96% in their rotten tomatoes.  It also gave Paul Mescal his first ever oscar nomination for best actor only at the age of 27.