‘Aftersun’ to be screened in Westport

TENDER AND NUANCED  ‘Aftersun’ features newcomer Frankie Corio and Irish actor Paul Mescal, who starred in ‘Normal People’ – the series based on Castlebar author Sally Rooney’s book of the same name.


Louise Healy

After a Covid-induced hiatus, Westport Film Club is returning this April with the critically acclaimed ‘Aftersun’, in the club’s first showing of the season. It will be screened at the W Cinema on James Street on Wednesday, April 5.
‘Aftersun’ is the story of Calum (Oscar-nominated Paul Mescal) and his eleven-year-old daughter, Sophie (newcomer Frankie Corio), who spend a week on a package holiday on a Turkish island.
From the outset, it could be perceived as just another story of a divorced dad on holiday with his daughter. It soon becomes clear as the story unfolds from an adult Sophie’s perspective, that Calum is dealing with a darkness that he tries to hide from both Sophie and himself.
Charlotte Wells’ ‘emotionally autobiographical’ directorial debut does not promise any happy endings. Calum, while trying hard to make the holiday memorable, is suffering himself with depression and anxiety.
There are moments in the film where Wells hints at something ominous to come, but she never labours the point or goes down the road you expect. These foreboding scenes are exited as quickly as they are entered, leaving things open ended, and the audience wondering and guessing. This restraint is a master trick from this new writer-director – one that veers away from anything prescriptive, leaving the viewer with a sinking feeling as to what is going on but never getting confirmation.
The film is a collection of memories seen through camcorder footage taken on the trip and scenes showing the tender and honest relationship between father and daughter, superbly delivered by Mescal and Corio (in her first acting role).
Aftersun’s producer, Barry Jenkins (the director of ‘Moonlight’), has described Calum as ‘wading through wells of quiet anguish’, which the audience is privy to when we see Calum sitting alone on the bed crying and spitting in the mirror at his reflection. The quiet portrayal of a young father struggling is both heartbreaking and beautiful.
This film appears to be uneventful and relatively mundane, but it has been carefully orchestrated that way. It is the unspooling of a memory bank of a holiday between a father and daughter that proves to be a deeply though-provoking film about love and disappointment and choice. The nuance is so delicate that if you’re not paying attention you’ll miss it.
Louise Healy is a member of Westport Film Club. The club’s annual membership is €40 for seven movies for 2023. Non-members are welcome (€10 per film). All screenings start at 8.45pm, with tickets available to purchase in the W Cinema from 8.30pm.