"You can live wherever you want to live. Be whoever you want to be. You have time."
— Calum Paterson, to his daughter Sophie
Aftersun is a 2022 drama film written and directed by Charlotte Wells in her feature theatrical debut, starring Paul Mescal and Frankie Corio.
In the 1990snote , Sophie Paterson (Corio), a young Scottish girl on the verge of turning eleven, goes on holiday to a cheap resort in Turkey with her father Calum (Mescal), who has recently separated from her mother. Twenty years later, an adult Sophie, herself a new parent, reflects on that vacation as she attempts to reconcile the father that she knew with the man that she didn't.
Following a premiere at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, Aftersun was released in the United States on October 21, 2022 and in the United Kingdom on November 18 by Mubi. The film was distributed in the US and Canada by A24, and in other countries by Mubi.
Aftersun contains examples of:
- 20 Minutes into the Past: The bulk of it takes place during the late '90s, though the framing device takes place during the film's release year of 2022.
- The '90s: The vacation happened during this decade, as reflected by the songs, style, Calum's walkman, and the camcorder footage.
- Absurdly Youthful Mother: Calum had Sophie when he was two days shy of his twentieth birthday. It's implied that much of his self-loathing comes from him feeling unable to properly provide for his daughter financially due to having been unprepared to raise a child at such a young age.
- Abusive Parents: Calum is implied to have had them, judging by his recollection that his parents forgot his eleventh birthday completely and his mother "grabbed him by the ear" when he reminded her.
- Ambiguous Ending: The trip to Turkey was the last time that Sophie ever saw Calum, and he's not present in her adult life, though why that happened is never clarified and instead left up to the audience to draw their own conclusions. Though the most common interpretation, with heavy implication throughout the movie proper, is that Calum took his own life shortly after their return from holiday.
- Ambiguously Bi: At the hotel, Sophie befriends Michael, a boy around her age, who ends up telling her that he likes her and kisses her one night, which she seems to enjoy. In the present, she has a female partner and a child, though it's never stated whether she's bisexual or a lesbian who realized her sexuality later in life.
- Amicable Exes: Sophie points out that her parents are still nice and affectionate with each other even after their separation.
- "Back to Camera" Pose: The main poster for the movie shows the two main characters sitting on a beach facing away from the camera towards the horizon.
- Birthday Hater: Calum doesn't seem happy about turning thirty, and it's implied that while he does love Sophie, he realizes that he missed out on many experiences of his twenties by spending the entire decade being a parent. He puts on a good face for her, though he later breaks down into intense sobs in the hotel room.
- Breaking the Cycle of Bad Parenting: Played with. Calum seems to struggle with his memories of his parents, suggesting that they were abusive. He yearns to be a good dad to Sophie and seems aware of this trope, but his own financial limitations and emotional problems stand in his way.
- Bunny Ears Picture Prank: Calum performs the "bunny ears" gesture on Sophie for the Polaroid picture taken at the resort.
- Cover Innocent Eyes and Ears: The tween Sophie befriends a group of teenagers. When two of them start making out, the other three object and cover Sophie's eyes, jokingly accusing their friends of corrupting the youth.
- Dance of Romance: A platonic version. Calum and Sophie dance to "Under Pressure", which is one of the few times where Calum is able to express his deep love for her.
- Disneyland Dad: Deconstructed. Calum doesn't see Sophie often and lives away from her, so he's desperate to give her a nice time and to lavish gifts on her, but he has no money and is shown to be deeply ashamed of it. At one point, she hurts him badly by telling him not to offer to pay for things he can't afford.
- Door-Closes Ending: The last scene is of Calum leaving through a door into a rave-like void.
- Energetic and Soft-Spoken Duo: Sophie is bright, outgoing, and energetic, while Calum is reserved, inward, and sensitive.
- First Kiss: Sophie has her first kiss with Michael.
- Forgotten Birthday: Calum recalls that his parents forgot his eleventh birthday.
- Gilligan Cut: Early on, Sophie yawns in the hotel lobby and Calum asks if she is sleepy. She denies but then we cut to the next scene where she has fallen asleep on the bed with her shoes still on.
- Happier Home Movie: At the end, we see that adult Sophie watched the holiday video footage to remind herself of that precious time she had with her father when she was eleven.
- Hormone-Addled Teenager: Sophie frequently observes a group of teens also on vacation talk about their romantic and sexual lives, old enough to get what they're talking about but still too young to actually relate to them as she's never had any of those experiences herself. Fortunately, everyone treats Sophie with respect and no one tries to come onto her, which Calum fears.
- Imagine Spot: Interspersed throughout the film are brief flashing scenes of a dance rave with Calum and adult Sophie; it's not clear until later that this is something that Sophie is imagining when it's juxtaposed with a dance that Calum and Sophie shared during their trip, in one of the last memories they shared together. Symbolically, it represents her regret over not being able to fully understand her father before he left her life.
- It Runs in the Family: Implied. Back at the hotel room, Sophie describes feeling depressed in everything but name ("It feels like your organs don't work, they're just tired, and everything is tired. Like you're sinking."). Calum, who struggles with depression himself, recognizes what she's talking about and is clearly troubled that she feels the same way he does.
- Leave the Camera Running: After they check into the hotel, Calum puts Sophie to bed and goes outside to smoke a cigarette and do some tai chi, which goes on for several minutes with the only sound coming from Sophie's own breathing.
- Mum Looks Like a Sister: One of the teens at the resort assumes that Sophie is Calum's younger sister; when he clarifies that she's his daughter, he tells the teen that it happens a lot when he tries to apologize for the mistake.
- Parental Neglect: Calum's memories of his parents heavily imply that they were neglectful and likely abusive in other ways. His attentiveness to Sophie shows that he is trying his best to avert that himself and he is notably but quietly devastated after he accidentally locks Sophie out of the hotel room overnight.
- Parents as People: A prominent theme of the film is coming to see parents not just as figures but also as people. While Calum was every bit the loving father that Sophie remembers, he was also a very troubled and depressed man, the depths of which she couldn't grasp as a child, and she attempts to piece together both parts as an adult looking back on the last time she saw him.
- Plot-Mandated Friendship Failure: In the third act, Sophie fights with Calum after he refuses to perform a karaoke song with her, and she makes a cutting remark about his lack of finances, leading him to get drunk and accidentally lock her out of the room.
- Prelude to Suicide: Calum's depression, lack of regard for his own safety, dissatisfaction with life, comment about not believing he'll live to forty, spending beyond his financial means, letters to Sophie telling her not to forget his love for her, and lack of presence in Sophie's adult life all heavily imply his ultimate fate.
- Puppy Love: Sophie and Michael's relationship seems to be based mostly on them playing the same motorcycle arcade game together and wanting to see why the hormone-addled teenagers around them like kissing so much. While they share a kiss towards the end of the vacation, there's no sign the relationship endures past then.
- Rule of Symbolism: Calum and Sophie have a conversation through the hotel bathroom wall while he is attempting to remove his cast, during which he badly cuts himself but refrains from telling his daughter about his pain—a physical representation of their dynamic regarding his mental anguish through the rest of the movie.
- Stepford Smiler: Calum keeps up a facade of happiness for the sake of wanting Sophie to have a good time during one of the few moments she gets to see him, but he is also struggling with deep feelings of depression and self-loathing that he tries to manage with by reading self-help books and practicing meditation to little success.
- Teacher/Parent Romance: Discussed. Sophie is grossed out by the idea that Calum fancies her new teacher Miss Mackel.
- Tragic Keepsake: The Turkish rug that Calum was unable to afford but he goes back to purchase anyway is seen in adult Sophie's apartment.
- Uncertain Doom: The film heavily implies that Calum's absence from Sophie's adult life is because he died by suicide shortly after their vacation (see Prelude to Suicide above), but it's never outright stated.
- Wise Beyond Their Years: Downplayed; while Sophie is able to sense that not all is well with Calum and that he is going through some financial struggles, and shows an unusual amount of perceptiveness for an eleven-year-old, she is still a child and doesn't fully understand just how much her father is going through, and it's not until well into adulthood that she gains an understanding of what he might've felt during their vacation together.
♫ Can't we give ourselves one more chance?
Why can't we give love that one more chance?
Why can't we give love, give love, give love, give love, give love, give love, give love, give love, give love?
'Cause love's such an old-fashioned word
And love dares you to care for the people on the edge of the night
And love dares you to change our way of caring about ourselves
This is our last dance
This is our last dance
This is ourselves ♫
Why can't we give love that one more chance?
Why can't we give love, give love, give love, give love, give love, give love, give love, give love, give love?
'Cause love's such an old-fashioned word
And love dares you to care for the people on the edge of the night
And love dares you to change our way of caring about ourselves
This is our last dance
This is our last dance
This is ourselves ♫
