Critically Acclaimed Film Aftersun Now Streaming on Netflix

Aftersun—a timeless exploration of memory, unyielding depression, and the complex interplay between our past and present—has finally arrived on Netflix. Widely acclaimed as one of the best films of 2022, this poignant A24 narrative, directed and written by Charlotte Wells, delves deep into the heart of a father-daughter relationship strained by years of unspoken sorrows and unacknowledged pain. Much like A24’s other standout feature of the 2020s, Past Lives, the film finds our protagonist at a crossroads as a young adult, forced to reckon with a precarious, fragmented past.

Aftersun revolves around Sophie, a woman reflecting on a summer vacation she spent with her father, Calum, in Turkey. As Sophie (played by Celia Rowlson-Hall as an adult and Frankie Corio as a child) revisits the video footage and memories of their trip, she grapples with the painful realization that her father hid his depression from her and the rest of the world for many years. During their vacation, Calum (Paul Mescal) puts on a content face, attempting to hide the inner turmoil that plagues him daily. We, the audience, are painfully aware of his waywardness, while young Sophie remains oblivious to just how broken he feels. It is only through the lens of adulthood that Sophie begins to understand the signs of her father’s struggle.

You would never know this is Wells’ directorial debut for a feature film, as she masterfully balances the love between father and daughter with the unspoken emotional chasm that divides them. The film delves into the dual nature of depression: the sufferer, Calum, who cannot express his pain, especially to those closest to him, and the loved one, Sophie, who may sense the disarray but is powerless to help and too young to understand. This delicate dynamic is portrayed with haunting authenticity, especially once you’re on the other side of depression, when the battle has already been lost. Aftersun reflects the real-life challenge of dealing with a loved one’s mental health struggles more poignantly than perhaps any other film released in the 21st century.

This vibrant, tragic, yet ultimately insightful story is further enriched by Wells’ visual storytelling. The expansive Turkish landscapes serve as a backdrop to the characters’ mental journeys, with motifs such as distant hang gliders and the foreboding sea constantly commenting on their states of being. Wells’ minimalist yet constricting aesthetic evokes a disorienting sense of limbo for both the wavering father and naive daughter. Their vacation unknowingly becomes the final moments they’ll spend together, and the reflection on this cherished time painfully becomes more distant and confusing as the years wear on.

Memory is the most compelling exploration in Aftersun, applicable to anyone who struggles with pieces of their past. Sophie’s recollections of that final vacation, captured through photographs and video footage but relayed in narrative form only through her memory, offer a fragmented yet intimate glimpse into Calum’s troubled state from a daughter’s point of view. The film poignantly illustrates how memories, while comforting, are also distressingly limited. Photographs offer just an image, and video recordings provide a fixed perspective, capturing only what we chose at a particular angle. Missing are all the unspoken emotions and complex pathways that make our feelings seemingly impossible to communicate or even understand.

The movie’s climax intertwines reality and imagination—the irrefutable truth and our mental ways of dealing with it—in a striking juxtaposition of two scenes: young Sophie dancing with her father in a moment of pure joy, and an older Sophie desperately searching for him in a surreal, rave-like setting that haunts her dreams. This powerful sequence, underscored by the perfect use of Queen and David Bowie’s “Under Pressure,” underscores the devastating gap between what Sophie remembers and what she longs to understand.

Now available on Netflix, Aftersun is a must-watch for anyone with a complicated relationship with their past, who has dealt with depression, or who is plagued by the fallibility of memory. The film’s powerful performances, especially by Paul Mescal, who earned a Best Actor nomination at the Academy Awards, combined with Wells’ assured direction, make it a standout film that will resonate long after the credits roll. If you haven’t seen it yet, or if you need a reminder, be sure to witness why Aftersun was hailed as the best movie of 2022 by so many.