Recently at Lincoln Center, I attended
a screening of the new drama, “Aftersun”.
Synopsis
When a little girl goes on vacation with her father, will
they be able to bond despite the fact that he is now separated from her mother?
Story
As the summer winds down and a return to school approaches,
Calum (Paul Mescal) negotiates with his ex-wife to take their 11-year-old
daughter Sophie (Frankie Corio) to Turkey for a brief (and cheap) vacation. The weather is hot and the sun is
unremitting, so Calum is dutifully applying plenty of sunscreen to his
daughter. Sophie appears to be enjoying
herself – or at least, she’s enjoying having time to spend with her father; a
rare thing these days since her parents separated. Short on cash since he’s had difficulty
earning a living, Calum does his level best to show Sophie a good time.
Sophie’s sources of entertainment are somewhat limited
because there aren’t too many children at this resort that are around her age;
the few young people she encounters are in their late teens. Since they are mostly interested in hanging
with peers their age so they can imbibe virtually unlimited alcohol,
pretty much the only thing they can do with Sophie is play pool. Sophie, however, is left to look on enviously
and forlornly as her vacation pals engage in some romantic pursuits. Pretty much the best Sophie can do is to befriend
a boy at a nearby arcade as they spend the afternoon playing games together.
Tension sets in during their stay when Sophie’s interests
diverge from Calum’s; she wants him to join her in karaoke, but he
refuses. Later, he suggests retiring to
their room, but she resists. Seeking out
her own adventures, Sophie finds the boy she met at the arcade; seeing as how they
are close in age and neither one of them has yet fully embarked on the
tremulous adventure known as adolescence, they make an awkward attempt at a tryst. When it gets late and Sophie grows tired, she
finally decides to return to the room she and Calum share – but when she discovers
that she’s been locked out, will this imperil the remainder of their otherwise
pleasant trip?
Review
Although “Aftersun” played at the recent New York Film
Festival, this screening took place after its official release. The movie has received widespread critical
acclaim; there is good reason for that given the stylistic choices made by
director Charlotte Wells and the performance by Frankie Corio in the role of
Sophie. Despite “Aftersun” becoming
something of a critic’s darling, it is a bit of a letdown in terms of the
emotional impact which it attempts to deliver; much of what we learn comes at the
end of the film and it is ultimately left up to the imagination of the viewer
to figure out everything at that point.
Where the directing somewhat falls apart is in the actual
framing of the story. Clearly, it is a
coming-of-age tale told through the eyes of an 11-year-old girl; what we as an
audience don’t immediately know – and are left to assemble the pieces of the
puzzle at the conclusion of the film – is that this is told in the form of a
flashback by the now-adult Sophie (who is apparently also a parent
herself). This “reveal” and the way it
is done is both awkward and confusing; given the seeming intent by the
filmmaker, it might have been made clearer (and more satisfying) to inform the
audience upfront about how this story would unfold.
Ultimately, “Aftersun” is more style over substance. Unfortunately, this style obfuscates the
substance, which is the reflection of the adult on her complex relationship with her
father during her childhood now that she has also assumed the role of
parent. While the relationship between
daughter and father in her childhood is simultaneously heartwarming and
heartbreaking, without the context behind this story we cannot establish the
deeper meaning behind adult Sophie’s reminiscences. Perhaps that is the most heartbreaking part
of the motion picture – knowing that it could have been so much better than its
final version.
