Sophia is 11 years old. During the movie aftersun (Under the sun), we are however surprised to forget that we are in the presence of a preadolescent girl. Indeed, behind her introspective air, Sophie hides a maturity that transcends her young age. Conversely, Callum, her divorced father, exudes not an immaturity, but a youthful side that makes the duo constantly mistaken for brother and sister. During a vacation in an “all-inclusive” in Turkey towards the end of the 1990s, Sophie and Callum increase their already great bond while facing, each on their own, major upheavals.
The plot consists of a series of finely observed moments between Sophie and Callum, between Sophie and the teenage fauna of the hotel that both fascinates and repels her, between Sophie and herself, and finally between Sophie and Callum. again, but unbeknownst to the latter, when he thinks he is alone.
In an interview, Charlotte Wells confided to us in this regard: “I didn’t want to impose a fixed chronology, but something more akin to… plots of remembered events. »
Awarded at Critics’ Week in Cannes, Aftersun recently won the Louve d’or for best feature film at the Festival du nouveau cinema. Barry Jenkins, Best Picture Oscar winner for Moonlightis one of the producers of this first film of crazy confidence.
This is a fragile and rare work. Of a work which, moreover, gives to see a pair of absolutely exceptional interpretations.
In the role of Sophie, Frankie Corio is of an accuracy, a truth, staggering. The depth of the character, we detect it in the look of this talented newcomer: it is not fake. Revealed in the series Normal People and enjoyed ever since The Lost Daughter (Stolen doll), by Maggie Gyllenhaal, Paul Mescal is overwhelming. Often Callum stares into space or stands there, motionless, silent, lost in himself.
However, the presence of the actor is never as magnetic as when the character seems absent.
Melancholic atmosphere
These passages turn out to be especially revealing, because beneath his smiling exterior, Callum is — possibly, since an ambiguity prevails — in the grip of depression. This is one of the reasons for the melancholy atmosphere that emerges from the film, despite the ambient sunshine.
The other reason explaining this fundamental melancholy is due to the fact thataftersun turns out to be a long flashback punctuated by short sequences in the present, almost flashes, where we find an adult Sophie. She doesn’t just reminisce: she’s haunted. There, as elsewhere in her film, Charlotte Wells opts for suggestion and impressionism, leaving it to the public to deduce, even to decide on the meaning to be given to such a gaze, such an expression.
About this impressionist dimension: this contributes a lot to the success of the non-linear structure of the film. Added to these temporal to-and-fro are always organic, never abrupt ellipses. Sophie having set her sights on the camera that Callum took on the trip, a multitude of “archived memories” and stolen moments are also integrated into the reminiscences of the premiere.
The result is a flood of thoughts, and cinema, in which we drown willingly.