Charlotte Wells’ moving debut feature Aftersun, detailing a father-daughter vacation at a cheap resort in Turkey, and the scene above—which comes early on, when we’re still getting our bearings—is key. There’s something unknowable about Calum (Paul Mescal), and maybe this is because Sophie (Frankie Corio) is a child, and he’s her dad, and she’s just about coming to the age where she’s separating herself and becoming her own person.
Aftersun is about childhood memories being worn to a sheen by being constantly replayed in your mind, about the meanings that were not there then, but are there now, revealed or perhaps created by the remembering mind, and endowed with a new poignancy and grace. This effortlessly relaxed debut by Charlotte Wells is a subtle and complex investigation of post-divorce parenthood, with a brilliant performance by young Francesca Corio.
Aftersun (2022)
Directed by: Charlotte Wells
Starring: Paul Mescal, Frankie Corio, Celia Rowlson-Hall, Sally Messham, Ayse Parlak, Sophia Lamanova, Brooklyn Toulson, Spike Fearn, Frank Corio, Harry Perdios, Ruby Thompson
Screenplay by: Charlotte Wells
Production Design by: Billur Turan
Cinematography by: Gregory Oke
Film Editing by: Blair McClendon
Costume Design by: Frank Gallacher
Art Direction by: Guzin Erkaymaz
Music by: Oliver Coates
MPAA Rating: R for some language and brief sexual material.
Distributed by: A24 Films
Release Date: October 28, 2022
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