When I first saw Aftersun, I couldn't help but feel how young I was to understand this film. I myself, a 16 year old who has a knack for watching compelling stories brought to screen, for the first time felt as if I couldn't paint the bigger picture here and maybe, I was just inexperienced.
The movie revolves around a week-long vacation between a young father Calum and his young 11-year old daughter Sophie, taking place in the bright and warm summer of Turkey. This is the kind of movie where you, the audience, has to piece together the tiny bits of information and detail layed out by Wells. Unfortunately, I was lost
and confused throughout the film, failing to understand the situations between characters and even misunderstanding many of the points of the film. Once again, I just thought that there was something in this movie that felt like it was for someone specific, something that couldn't correlate with me quite well and I came to realise that this movie is made for those with a suffering or even deteriorating relationship with their parents.
Throughout the film, we can see that Calum is suffering from some form of depression, the portrayal of depression throughout the movie is done so accurately and most importantly, subtle that even I almost over-looked Calum's state of mind. Despite his condition, he's doing what he thinks is best for his daughter, by reconnecting with her with this bond they already have and a grand-vacation in Turkey. His daughter on the other hand, is much more light-hearted and optimistic with a mostly positive attitude. She looks forward into adulthood and views it as an exciting phase in life. However, she is entirely oblivious to her father Calum's misery and depression which he has been hiding from her along with the reality of aging and growing up faced by Calum, extended to her in the future. For me personally, this film is both haunting and joyous during its runtime. It somehow shows the beauty of life, with showing moments of the two, Calum and Sophie, sharing and enjoying these small moments between each other, along with the broken nature of the human mind, by hinting signs of depression and grief.
As a child, Aftersun may have not affected me as much as it did to others but I do believe, that this film's relevance to me would only grow over time for the years to come.
Aftersun may not be my favorite movie of 2022 but it is definitely is one of those films which I will hold onto and won't forget for a lifetime.
"You can live whatever you want to live. Be whoever you want to be. You have time."
- Calum, Aftersun