Sophie is 11 years old, but often thinks, speaks and acts as if she is double or even triple that. Sometimes, however, childhood returns to the detour of a remark, a game. Towards the end of the 1990s, she stayed with her divorced father, Callum, in an “all-inclusive” in Turkey. For the tween and adult, it’s an opportunity to spend quality time together. Although obviously, the duo shares a singular complicity, as in a world apart. However, under the sunny surface, sadness broods, perceptible in Callum’s vague gaze, in his silent tears shed when he thinks his daughter is out… Winner of the Jury Prize at the Critics’ Week in Cannes, aftersunpresented Wednesday at the Festival du nouveau cinema (FNC), is the first feature film by Scottish filmmaker Charlotte Wells.
However, to specify the latter during an interview carried out during her recent visit to the Toronto International Film Festival, aftersun is not autobiographical: Sophie is not the director at the same age, and Callum is not her father.
“I started designing the project right out of film school. I had made two short films, and I wondered about the future. One day when I was leafing through old holiday albums, I came across photos of my father, and I was struck by his youth. I was then approaching the age he was in these photos. This is really where the idea for the film began to germinate: a father and his daughter on vacation who are constantly taken for a brother and his little sister. »
The writing was long and arduous, and many narrative changes occurred, but the outline remained.
“I always envisioned this link, this closeness between the two characters. From the outset, I wanted to present Sophie and Callum as “accomplices in crime”, with this real and deep love that unites them. »
Between joy and melancholy
One of the many qualities of the film lies in its form, which is both impressionistic and non-linear. Thus the plot consists of a series of small moments interspersed with ellipses and “returns to the present” where an adult Sophie remembers. The camera that Callum brought on the trip and that Sophie willingly makes her own plays a key role, in that we discover through what she captures various moments gleaned or stolen.
“It became apparent to me that what I was interested in was showing the joy that Sophie and Callum share when they are together, and then the melancholy they feel when they are alone. I found it more interesting that the dramatic tension came from this opposition rather than from a classic structure like “they arrive at the hotel and everything is fine, then things deteriorate, crisis, reconciliations and denouement”. »
Since then, aftersunwith its fusion of reminiscences, family videos and “ flashforwards », resembles an intimate and enveloping flood of thoughts.
“I didn’t want to impose a fixed chronology, but something more akin to… plots of remembered events. It was played a lot during the editing: what do I give in terms of information, and what do I leave to the audience’s deduction or imagination? This is especially true when it comes to Callum’s psychological state. The thing is, there were plenty of serendipity in the editing process. »
Charlotte Wells explains, by way of example, that four scenes initially to be presented separately were merged with, in the background, a song echoing the content of these. “It was not planned: it was an intuition of my editor Blair McClendon, and suddenly, we had in front of us this very fluid, magical sequence. »
In tune with the moment
The magic was still there in the relationship between the two stars, Frankie Corio (Sophie) and Paul Mescal (Callum), who deliver performances of poignant authenticity.
“They are two extraordinary people. I spent two hours with them every morning. I wrongly assumed that given her young age and the fact that she had no professional experience, Frankie would like to develop her character and learn her lines through various activities or games. But I quickly understood that she preferred to dive into work without waiting: she was a pro, right away. To make it easier for her, she never had a complete version of the script: only the passages where Sophie is present – it was an idea of my head of distribution, Lucy Pardee. »
Although this approach initially filled her with apprehension, Charlotte Wells quickly agreed with her collaborator, as it became immediately obvious that she suited Frankie Corio.
“Frankie has this ability to be in the moment, to learn his lines on the spot when needed, but also to improvise. For example, during the scene where Callum films Sophie’s reflection on the television screen and then turns off the camera, she replied that she was going to continue filming “with her mental camera”. That’s Frankie: I could never have written such a line, so accurate, so much in tune with the character and the moment. »
The filmmaker has equally laudatory words for Paul Mescal, who embodies this loving father possibly plagued by an unspeakable malaise. Revealed in the popular series Normal Peoplewe saw it in the excellent The Lost Daughter (Stolen doll), by Maggie Gyllenhaal, after Elena Ferrante.
“We discussed the character a lot, before filming, Paul and I. So when he arrived in Turkey, we both knew the direction he was going with Callum. »
Feeling of floating
When asked, to stay within the theme of her film, what memory or what impression comes back to her spontaneously when she thinks about the project, Charlotte Wells replies without hesitation: “I had an incredible experience on set. For me, the writing is difficult, the editing too, because it’s at the bottom of the writing too. On the other hand, filming is happiness, even with the inevitable logistical problems inherent in any film. I felt like I was floating. »
Which could not be more appropriate, given the privileged narrative treatment. Not to mention the fact that there is certainly enough there to fill a new album.
The film aftersun premieres at FNC on Wednesday and hits theaters October 21.