Film Pick of the Week: Aftersun - review by Yvette Huddleston

The story is told in flashback as a young woman recalls a holiday she took with her dad in the late 1990s. Callum (Paul Mescal) is about to celebrate his 31st birthday and he has taken his 11-year-old daughter Sophie (Frankie Corio) away to a budget resort – part of it is still being built – in Turkey for a two-week summer break. As Callum is separated from Sophie’s mother, father and daughter don’t spend a lot of time together but they are clearly very close despite this. There is an easy intimacy between them, conversation flows and they make each other laugh.

Sophie is a bright, confident child who is comfortable in her own skin in that golden, innocent period before the insecurities and vulnerabilities of adolescence arrive. They have brought a video camera with them and Sophie is definitely the one in charge of it, ‘interviewing’ Callum and ‘reporting’ on their daily activities. They swim in the sea, sunbathe, sit by the pool, play cards, eat ice-creams, play pool, banter and bicker and observe the comings and goings of the other guests.

Underlying the feeling of getting away from it all and the carefree atmosphere of sunshine and treats, is a darker truth lurking. Callum appears to be struggling with his mental health while putting a brave face on it for the sake of his daughter. There is a sense of impending doom which hovers just out of sight and Wells conveys all this with tremendous sensitivity and subtlety so that it is possible to project all sorts of different interpretations onto the narrative. The use of the video footage only enhances the idea of how fleeting moments of happiness and connection can be and how important, yet impossible, it is to hold on to them.

Mescal’s performance, not surprisingly, received many plaudits but Corio’s is equally impressive – it is a thoughtful and mature portrayal of a girl on the cusp of womanhood, trying to understand her parent and her place in his world. Aftersun really is an achingly beautiful, poignant film about that special bond between parent and child. Wells deservedly won an Outstanding Debut by a British writer, producer or director BAFTA for it last year; it will be interesting to see what she does next.