Frankie Corio and Paul Mescal in a scene from the film 'Aftersun.'
Aftersun—a timeless exploration of memory, of unyielding depression, of the complex meeting between our past and present as we struggle to evolve—has finally made its way to Netflix. Widely acclaimed as one of the best films of 2022, this poignant A24 narrative (that owns one of the best soundtracks in recent memory) from writer-director Charlotte Wells delves deep into the heart of a father-daughter relationship strained by years and years of unspoken sorrows and unacknowledged pain. Akin to A24’s other most dazzling feature of the 2020s, Past Lives, the film finds our protagonist at a crossroads as a young adult after being forced to reckon with a precarious, fragmented past.
Aftersun revolves around Sophie, a woman reflecting on a summer vacation she spent with her father, Calum, in Turkey. As Sophie (as an adult, played by Celia Rowlson-Hall; as a child, played by Frankie Corio) revisits the video footage and memories of their trip, she grapples with the painful realization that her father hid his depression from her and the rest of the world for many years. During the course of their vacation, Calum (Paul Mescal) puts on a content face, attempting to hide the inner turmoil that plagues him daily. We are painfully aware of his waywardness, while young Sophie remains oblivious to just how broken he feels. It is only through the lens (an important word for a film that uses a camera as its most powerful motif) of adulthood that Sophie begins to understand the signs of her father’s struggle. (If you’d like more insight into the deeper themes and meaning of Aftersun, then check out this thorough breakdown.)
You would never know this is Wells’ directorial debut for a feature film, as she masterfully balances the love between father and daughter with the unspoken emotional chasm that divides them, perfectly capturing the static, impenetrable tension at the heart of their relationship. The film delves into the dual nature of depression: the sufferer, Calum, who cannot express his pain, especially to the closest people in his life, and the loved one, Sophie, who may sense the disarray but is powerless to help, is too young to understand. This delicate dynamic is portrayed with haunting authenticity (Wells referred to the film as “emotionally autobiographical), especially once you’re on the other side of depression, when the battle has already been lost. In effect, Aftersun, perhaps more than any other film released in the 21st century, painfully reflects the real-life challenge of dealing with a loved one's mental health struggles.
This unbelievably vibrant, undeniably tragic, yet ultimately insightful, illuminating, encouraging story is further enriched by how Wells crafts her tale visually. The expansive Turkish landscapes serve as a backdrop to the characters' mental journeys (with motifs such as distant hang gliders and the foreboding sea constantly commenting on the characters’ states of being), mirroring their sense of isolation and longing for connection. Wells’ minimalist yet constricting aesthetic evokes a disorienting sense of limbo for both wavering father and naive daughter, as there’s a painful strain on their vacation that unknowingly becomes the final moments they’ll spend together. The reflection on this short, cherished time together painfully becomes more and more distant and confusing as the years wear on.
Which brings us to the most compelling exploration in Aftersun that should apply to anyone who struggles with pieces of their past: memory. Sophie’s recollections of that final vacation together, captured through photographs and video footage achingly revisited throughout the film but relayed in narrative form only through her memory of the events, offer a fragmented yet altogether intimate glimpse into Calum’s troubled state from a daughter’s point of view. The film poignantly illustrates how memories, while comforting, are also distressingly limited. Photographs only offer just that: an image. And a video recording provides a fixed perspective; what we chose to capture and at what angle we chose to capture it. What’s missing are all of the machinations of humankind, all of the complex, unspoken avenues between people, all of the neuronal pathways that make our emotions seemingly impossible to communicate, to even understand in the first place. Sophie’s recollections of a vacation secretly plagued by desolation and despair, of a man she desperately seeks to understand, are mere representations of a reality she does not comprehend, leaving Sophie to grapple with the elusive truth behind her father’s actions, the ambiguous impact it’s had on her life.
The movie’s climax beautifully intertwines reality and imagination—the irrefutable truth and how we mentally deal with the truth—a hazy yet striking juxtaposition of two scenes that offer perspective on the perilous divide between past and present: young Sophie dancing with her father in a moment of pure, unadulterated ecstasy, and an older Sophie desperately searching for him in a surreal, rave-like setting that haunts her dreams. This powerful sequence, underscored by the most perfect musical use of Queen and David Bowie’s song “Under Pressure” in cinematic history, underscores the devastating gap between what Sophie remembers and what she longs to understand—this is the tragic beauty that Wells so exquisitely elucidates with her emotionally crippling, philosophically illuminating film.
Now available on Netflix, Aftersun is a must-watch for anyone who has a complicated relationship with their past, who has dealt with depression, either personally or tangentially, who is plagued by the fallibility of memory. The film’s powerful performances, especially by rising star Paul Mescal, who earned a Best Actor nomination at the Academy Awards, combined with Wells’ unbelievably assured direction for a first-timer, make it a standout film that will resonate long after the credits roll (and clearly the movie’s impact has lasted through 2024, as the film currently resides on the Lettterboxd Top 250). If you haven’t seen it yet, or if you just need a reminder, be sure to witness why Aftersun was hailed as the best movie of 2022 by so many.
