Charlotte Wells’ debut film Aftersun is about a daughter (Sophie) trying to reach out to her mentally distant father (Calum) and is brilliant.

The story of the best independent British film of 2022 is based on flashbacks remembered through videotapes watched by a sad adult Sophie (Celia Rowlson-Hall), 20 years later after having recorded them. In the 1990s, the eleven years old Sophie (Frankie Corio) flies to meet her father, Calum (Paul Mescal), only to realize that would be the last time she’d ever see him.

During their one-week stay in an all-inclusive resort in Turkey, the two embark on a mental journey, which Sophie can’t yet understand, but she still tries to cheer her father up. For example, by pushing him to go and talk to other people in the resort. Eventually, he refuses. He lacks socializing skills and keeps his feeling sealed inside him.

There are times when Sophie returns to their hotel room to find her father naked after a mental breakdown. Instead of judging him, she covers him up and rests him. These sweet gestures bring us closer to their mystic relationship, but they won’t work on making Sophie understand. As an adult, when Sophie is watching the recorded tapes from that vacation, she is almost numb and still in the dark about what was wrong with her father.

 Will they ever meet again?

Aftersun explores the depths of childish and naive happiness, which doesn’t understand her father’s situation but still tries to make memories with him. As if Calum knew that he’d never see his daughter again after this vacation, we see him teaching her martial arts, something he is passionate about (maybe as a “tool” to fight his inner battles?). This way, he wants to ensure Sophie will be strong, even if he won’t be around for her. These scenes also indicate how grim and dark Sophie’s future might be.

Twenty years later, we don’t precisely notice any danger in Sophie’s life. But we surely know that she went through a lot of changes during her life. As a little girl, she likes and kisses a boy she knows through playing video games in the resort during her vacation. But as an adult, she’s married to a girl she wakes up with on Sophie’s 32nd birthday. They have a baby together, whose cry sends Sophie back into memory lane.

 The gazes mean something

Through remarkable photography and colors, the audience leaves their movie theatres, enters the resort, invisibly stands alongside Sophie and Calum, and watches them grow distant. Wells beautifully expresses the disconnection between the two through mismatching gazes between Sophie and Calum. Several times, the two look the other way when the other is looking. This way, they barely connect.

The color grading is also striking. Its blue, warm, low-key colors get you into the perfect, melancholy mood. Wells has created an innovative way to present the audience with what goes on inside Calum’s mind. When Calum disconnects from the present world, he enters a world of a disco-like black and white lightened, dancing scene, unclear as to what it is. 

Not sure what he’s doing there; Calum has no clue how to get out of that trap. 

Still, Sophie doesn’t overreact or get mad at him. She’s not spoiled. She understands that something beyond her understanding is happening inside her father’s head. Sophie already has the maturity not to jump to conclusions, which is impressive for her age.

 There is a lovely feeling that this movie gives to the audience, but there are also mismatches and events we find no reason that they have happened. Of course, this is a fiction work, but the reality is depicted within fiction. Considering that Sophie might have never seen her father again after that vacation (because there’s no hint of the opposite), there are several events and scenes in the movie where Calum is alone in the hotel room. According to the narrative device of the flashbacks, those are memories the adult Sophie couldn’t possibly possess.  

Overall, the movie is worth watching. Whether you will like it or not, it is a new perspective on mental health issues, naturally played by a debuting young actress and an emerging actor, very well conducted by a promising director and writer. Here's its official preview: