Aftersun
This new film by first time writer-director, Charlotte Wells, has jumped straight into my list of modern movies that have left an impact upon me. Trying hard to avoid pretension, this is a piece of beautifully wrought art that says something profound about memory, family relationships and individual purpose. For some of you, the next comment will not be a recommendation but for me there is none higher – I keep thinking about this film in the same way that my mind returns to recent films such as Parasite, Boyhood and Moonlight. The latter is perhaps the best and most obvious comparison because Barry Jenkins, that film’s director, was a co-producer of Aftersun. And, like Moonlight, this film quietly grips you throughout, with an underlying sense of anxiety and boldness in its style and imagery.
Let me say straightaway that nothing really happens in this film, on the surface – a girl goes on holiday to Turkey with her father. However, subtext is everything in this film: the emotions of the two main characters and their relationship are presented in a naturalistic and moving manner, with little dialogue.
Calum, played by Paul Mescal from Normal People, is a young dad who is taking his eleven year old daughter, Sophie, played by newcomer Frankie Corio, on holiday. It appears that he does not see her that often as he is separated from Frankie’s mother and seems to be moving around from job to job. The setting takes place at a standard holiday complex; and we are aware from short flashbacks with the now grown up Frankie, who is looking at video footage, that this all happened about twenty five years previously. Music of the era is deployed as an unobtrusive but important marker and, at a key moment, there is use of a special vocal version of Under Pressure that I hadn’t heard before and which shouldn’t have worked but did so with awesome emotional power.
Calum and Sophie spend their days swimming, sunbathing and going on the odd excursion. Calum encourages her to make friends with some of the other youngsters at the complex but there is never any sense that she is an encumbrance for him – he enjoys spending time with her. Yet we do get a sense that he is struggling in some way to control his demons. Now this is done with subtlety and authenticity. Most of this emerges in wordless scenes and comes through a certain look or gesture from Calum; and we see an intelligent empathy in Sophie’s reaction to him – she is clearly a bright and curious girl but not annoyingly precocious. This is a coming of age story for Sophie who finds herself attracted to the sexually curious teenagers she befriends at the resort whilst ultimately more comfortable playing arcade games with a boy her own age. Yet we sense that Calum is going through growing pains of his own. He seems to be struggling with his responsibilities as a young father and a man trying to find a role as he moves away from his own youth.
I mentioned a sense of unease and yet at the end of the film what strikes the viewer is the deep, loving relationship between the pair. Calum enjoys explaining things to Frankie, sharing holiday experiences and encouraging her questions and curiosity. Only on one occasion does one of her questions upset him and leave him dumbstruck. This is an uncomfortable moment, rivalled by a moment at the karaoke that is a rare and painful moment of dislocation between them. Throughout their holiday it is clear that Calum and Frankie love each other in a normal but meaningful way, and they make connections that are beautiful but avoid cheap sentiment. The unease we sense emerges from the grown-up Sophie’s reconstruction of this holiday memory that seems to suggest something has happened to their connection; she is trying to recapture a sweet moment of togetherness that has gone.
The way that Wells delivers the story through carefully constructed shots, using unusual angles where dramatic moments are captured at one remove, or memorable images are lingered on, seem to replicate grown-up Sophie’s act of remembering. I’m no expert on the craft of cinema but it seemed to me that a proper artist was deploying the images, sound and sparse dialogue with precision. Yet, as I must stress, this never created a barrier between the audience and the characters at the heart of this drama. A huge amount of credit for this must also go to Mescal and Corio whose performances were outstanding in their naturalness and depth.
I often complain that many of the books, films and television I consume seem to be fixated on toxic masculinity. That is why Calum had such an impact on me – he has his issues but he is a good dad and a decent person. I loved this film and can’t wait to see future films by Wells.