„Aftersun” and How We Create the Past – A Film Analysis

Aftersun (2022) is a feature-length debut film written and directed by Charlotte Wells. The movie is a patchwork of scenes from a summer holiday in the 1990s, when 11-year-old Sophie (played by Frankie Corio) spends time with her dad, Calum (played by Paul Mescal), in a Turkish resort. Through the use of different cinematic techniques, Wells evokes in their audience the feelings of nostalgia for childhood memories, loneliness in the world and longing for the past and the loved ones that are not with us anymore.

Aftersun starts with the asynchronous sound of a videotape being set up. We see a man dancing and talking to a girl behind the camera. An oblique angle and grainy image remind one of amateur family films. One can also observe a faded reflection of a woman who sits on a couch watching this old tape. At first, the video seems joyful, but then the girl asks a question about the man’s childhood, and the recording stops. The image dissolves as the woman winds the tape, trying to remember that holiday. As we later find out, the girl and the woman are both the same person – Sophie – one at the beginning of her adolescence, the other mature, with a family of her own. Why does the adult Sophie recall that holiday now? The tape is rewind to the flash forward of the goodbye between Sophie and her dad. Is it simply the end of the holiday or something more?

Suddenly, we are transported in time to Sophie’s memories of that summer. The close-up shows the girl and her dad joking about the tour guide on the bus ride to the hotel. The warmth of the colours of the bus scene is juxtaposed with the darkness of the night and the gloomy film score. The whole movie is like that – seemingly lightsome with an undertone of hidden sadness.

During the first night in the hotel, there is an interesting shot. The silhouette of the sleeping Sophie is masking the view of Calum as he goes out on the balcony for a cigarette. We hear voice-off – the girl’s breath – while we observe the man smoking. There is a glass window between two characters – a literal and metaphorical barrier. What is interesting, little Sophie is unable to see her father as she is asleep. Therefore, adult Sophie is the one who imagines Calum and tries to reconstruct his feelings and actions. Maybe now she will be able to understand him. These attempts to imagine what Calum was doing in solitude are repeated throughout the film. The graphic match of sleeping daughter and father brings us back to the memories of the 11-year-old as the sunny day begins.

Though Calum and Sophie do not live together on a daily basis, the strong father-daughter connection between them is evident. The moments when the man jokes, takes care of the girl, and they talk or play together are full of joy and love. The colours are warm, saturated and light as the troubles seem to go away.

The feeling of nostalgia is present in the film. Calum observes that Sophie is no longer the little girl she used to be. She does not want to introduce herself to younger children at the hotel, she kisses someone for the very first time, she reads teenage magazines and she knows a lot. He misses the past as he watches old videos shot on the camera. At the same time, Calum seems to be afraid he won’t be present in his daughter’s future – he teaches her the basis of self-defence, and he gives her a book to read that she finds yet too hard to understand. There is also a close-up of the postcards Calum bought – one is addressed to Sophie and says never to forget that he loves her very much. It seems almost like the father prepares the girl for his leaving. During the boat ride, we see Sophie watching the view of the mountains, where the focus point is, while Calum observes her and seems to be absent-minded. In the scene of karaoke, when the girl requests a song, he does not want to perform, though they used to sing karaoke every year.

Aftersun captures Calum’s feelings of sadness and loneliness in multiple ways. A really interesting scene is the one when Calum takes his cast off. It starts with off-screen Sophie’s voice asking a question if a broken wrist hurts. There is a close-up on the cast, which cuts, and the camera is moved to Calum’s face. The dominant colour is blue, there is low-key lighting. Another cut and Sophie is visible on a screen. There is more light, which is rather warm and yellow. After a few reverse shots, there is an insert which shows us the whole setting. The conversation takes place in a hotel room through the bathroom wall. There is a prominent contrast between the father and the daughter. The surrounding of the girl is warm and light, and her clothes have vibrant colours, while the bathroom where the man sits seems dark and heavy. Sophie is browsing through a book, while Calum bleeds through the cut under his cast. The distance between them caused by the mental state of the father is highlighted by the presence of the wall. Through the use of mis-en-scene, the director portrays the feelings of Calum.

Throughout Aftersun the theme of a mirror is repeated. We see Calum’s reflection in the telephone booth where Sophie is talking to her mum, the girl is reflected in a mirror when she hangs her wet swimming costume in a hotel room, and we witness the entire conversation between the daughter and the father, which was flashed forward at the beginning of the film, through the reflection of them on a TV. There are also echoes of them talking in a shadow or on a window glass. This may symbolise the elusiveness of the past, which we can only access through inaccurate memory.

Another motif that frequently occurs is water. It may symbolise freedom at the beginning –when Sophie is in water, the whole world seems to be away, she is with her father, free. However, throughout the film, as Calum seems more and more distant, the water may also symbolise the feeling of being lost and lonely. When Sophie is in the pool playing water polo, nobody throws the ball to her. Her vulnerability is emphasised by the high angle of the camera. Also, when Calum leaves Sophie, she imagines him going towards the sea and disappearing into the darkness. In the shot, there is high contrast between the whiteness of the beach and the darkness of the sea that blends into the night.

Crucially, in Aftersun there is a cutaway that is shown for the first time at the beginning of the film and then reappears. The second time it appears cutting away to the scene on the last day of the holiday. Calum dances with the young Sophie to Under Pressure by Queen and David Bowie. Although they seem truly happy, there is tension. The flickering dream-like shot has low-key lightning. The crowd is dancing as David Bowie repeats the words „This is our last dance”. The people disappear, and we see the adult Sophie trying to catch Calum, who with a face full of fear, collapses. There is a cut, and we watch the video from the airport, when the girl says goodbye to her father. The tape ends, the camera makes an arc, and we are back in the adult Sophie’s home when she watches the videotapes. However, the camera movement does not stop and, when the arc is almost full, we are transported to the airport where Calum stops recording young Sophie and leaves the room. The camera does not follow him and Calum wears the same clothes as in the flickering cutaway. Was it the last time Sophie saw him? Is this the reason why she recalls that holiday now?

Charlotte Wells’ Aftersun is a moving melodrama which tells the story of the relationship between a father and a daughter. The film portrays the emotions of both characters in a heart-tugging way, using the symbolism of colours and motifs, effective editing and carefully planned shots.

Title	Aftersun
Director	Charlotte Wells
Year	2022

Aftersun. Directed by Charlotte Wells, photographed by Gregory Oke, edited by Blair McClendon, A24, 2022.