Aftersun - A Review by Archie Lees

Aftersun is a father-daughter story which acts as a debut for the first-time director Charlotte Wells. It’s based on her memories of vacationing with her father as a young girl in the late 90s. The setting is a budget resort holiday in Turkey which she visits with London located father. Looking to spend time with each other, 11-year-old Sophie and her separated father Calum make memories recorded with a camcorder which becomes a heartfelt source of nostalgia for Sophie to look back on now she is a parent herself. The film transcends time as we flash between 11-year-old Sophie and her adult self without overdoing it as we only meet the adult Sophie 3 or 4 times. Whilst the film doesn’t rely upon violence or show-off effects, Wells uses the complexed relationships of a father and daughter and the territory of the human heart to keep us smiling and crying throughout.

There is a delicate line between the sweetness of Sophie and the agony within Callum which Wells treads brilliantly as we see Calum, who sports a cast throughout, sneaking out for a smoke on the balcony, frequently with a drink in his broken hand whilst Sophie pretends to sleep. Wells suggests that Calum is now dead as him and an adult Sophie frequently engage in a ghostly dance of contrasting emotions as she uses childhood memories to make sense of her father in adulthood. This is most effective in the closing stages of the film as a young Sophie refuses to dance with her joyous father whilst the modern-day Sophie looks on in distress and regret. It’s a tall order for a debutant writer-director to pull off but she does it with the ability of a filmmaker twice her age.

Whilst the primary relationship is between Sophie and Calum, we also get a strong representation of Sophie negotiating the turning point from childhood into adolescence. She frequently looks on in awe at the male attention older girls are receiving in the resort. This all adds to the complexity of Sophie’s character as her and her father become somewhat even more separate as she prioritises hanging around a more mature crowd rather than spending time with Calum.

 Sophie feels regular feelings of abandonment magnified by Calum’s quick turning moods, demonstrated by a rather saddening scene in which he sends her to perform a duet alone during karaoke which they had previously choreographed to sing together, instead he stays planted in his chair holding onto his glass. Wells doesn’t overdo the struggle of Calum’s health and identity as he vainly tries to keep his best side alive for Sophie. However, we see the vulnerable side of Calum recurrently as he swims alone dangerously late at night and clearly struggles to cope as a single father. In general, the film demonstrates the difference in attitude from childhood to adulthood very effectively as the brilliant debut writer and director ends with Sophie now in adulthood struggling in a similar way to Calum in what is a rather bleak and gloomy finale. The empathy that Wells and the cast invest in these characters gives ‘Aftersun’ the ability to sneak up on you and floor you. Upon leaving the theatre I was left with a sense of emptiness whilst still being incredibly satisfied at my experience for the last 1 hour and 42 minutes.

Edited by Archie Lees