Aftersun

Name: Aftersun
Genre: Drama
Released: October 21, 2022
Duration: 98 min
Rating: 95
Cast: Brooklyn Toulson, Celia Rowlson-Hall, Frankie Corio, Harry Perdios, Paul Mescal

2022

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 46 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 152 Ratings

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7.9

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7.9	Your Score
7.9	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 152 Ratings

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Aftersun

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Movie Details & Credits

A24 | Release Date: October 21, 2022 | Not Rated

Starring: Brooklyn Toulson, Celia Rowlson-Hall, Frankie Corio, Harry Perdios, Paul Mescal, Sally Messham

Summary: Sophie reflects on the shared joy and private melancholy of a holiday she took with her father twenty years earlier. Memories real and imagined fill the gaps between miniDV footage as she tries to reconcile the father she knew with the man she didn’t.

Director: Charlotte Wells

Genre(s): Drama

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 98 min

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Critic Reviews

100

The Observer (UK) Mark Kermode

Nov 21, 2022

A brilliantly assured and stylistically adventurous work, this beautifully understated yet emotionally riveting coming-of-age drama picks apart themes of love and loss in a manner so dextrous as to seem almost accidental. Don’t be fooled; Wells knows exactly what she’s doing, and her storytelling is as precise as it is piercing. Read full review

100

G. Allen Johnson

Oct 25, 2022

Aftersun is a film about memory and regret, of finding small islands of warmth and happiness and holding on; a movie that beautifully struggles to say what is unsaid. Read full review

100

IndieWire David Ehrlich

Sep 4, 2022

A stunning debut that develops with the gradual poignancy of a Polaroid, Charlotte Wells’ Aftersun isn’t just an honest movie about the way that we remember the people we’ve lost — fragmented, elusive, nowhere and everywhere all at once — it’s also a heart-stopping act of remembering unto itself. Read full review

100

Empire Beth Webb

Nov 15, 2022

Rare and special is a film capable of summoning this much poignancy: a feeling which lingers well beyond the film’s final, achingly moving moments on screen. That Aftersun is the debut from British filmmaker Charlotte Wells only adds to its accomplishment. Read full review

Barry Hertz

Oct 25, 2022

Aftersun cuts you in two with such emotional intensity, such impressive dramatic force, that I could only sit and fight back the inevitable tears. Read full review

Michael Phillips

Nov 11, 2022

Most films would take pains to spell out the answers, eventually. “Aftersun” works more obliquely and poetically, leaving prosaic touches to other filmmakers. Read full review

The Playlist Elena Lazic

May 22, 2022

Bold acrobatics in editing and ambitious creative choices feel all the more superfluous next to Mescal’s effortless charisma. Read full review

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User Reviews

Grahambennett69

Oct 24, 2022

A truly inspiring film. An emotional roller coaster of understanding the complex feeing of adolescents and how to have a significant and meaningful relationship with them. An amazing coming of age film.

5 of 6 users found this helpful51

Sadamity

Jan 30, 2023

Nothing more powerful than memories. When your most precious memories also devastate you. This film is a masterpiece. It's heartbreaking.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

bronsonhatch

Dec 26, 2022

The entire time you are waiting for something to happen and when you reach the ending you realize everything has already happened, you’re only watching to see the cause not the effect. It’s amazingly shot, well acted, fantastically written and directed with real passion. The chemistryThe entire time you are waiting for something to happen and when you reach the ending you realize everything has already happened, you’re only watching to see the cause not the effect. It’s amazingly shot, well acted, fantastically written and directed with real passion. The chemistry between Corio and Mescal are so strong they genuinely feel like father and daughter. Mescal delivers an incredible performance that has lots of great “subtle” acting and great “not-so-subtle” acting. Anyone who has experienced, or has close relations with some someone who has experienced depression can probably agree that Aftersun portrays it very well.… Expand

2 of 3 users found this helpful21

RCard

Feb 4, 2023

A very good debut! Excellent interpretations! It is autobiographical and that makes the movie touching.

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

royalguy07

Aug 25, 2023

Incredibly effective and restrained, the content itself is not in your face sad but it is very sad, great ending.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

LisaLR1

Feb 5, 2023

AFTERSUN, written and directed by Charlotte Wells, is a reflective, bittersweet portrait of a lost father-daughter relationship. An adult Sophie, on her birthday, looks back at twenty year old film footage of the last summer holiday in Turkey when she was 11 years old spent with herAFTERSUN, written and directed by Charlotte Wells, is a reflective, bittersweet portrait of a lost father-daughter relationship. An adult Sophie, on her birthday, looks back at twenty year old film footage of the last summer holiday in Turkey when she was 11 years old spent with her estranged father, Calum, played by Paul Mescal in his recent Best Actor Oscar-nominated role. Sophie (Frankie Corio) at age 11 is on the brink of adolescence trying to understand and come to terms with a father who is clearly loving, yet seems to be struggling beneath the weight of his life. Paul Mescal gives a realistic, tender and very understated performance, and young Frankie Corio is simply endearing as Sophie. The film, co-produced by Oscar-winning Director Barry Jenkins ("Moonlight"), leaves it up to the audience to decide the fate of Sophie's father at the end of AFTERSUN. The sense of melancholy I felt while watching the film left me with the understanding that for Sophie, 20 years of loss seems a lifetime, while her memories feel like only yesterday.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Mrakomor

Dec 23, 2022

This is cinema for generous patient people with big imagination, who are willing to fill in the the gaps and create whole other (better) movie in their minds.

3 of 9 users found this helpful36

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