Q&A: Scottish filmmaker Charlotte Wells is one of the most promising voices in British cinema Washington Square News

Table Of Content

• Paul Mescal and Frankie Corio on Aftersun: “It’s rare to see a single-parent drama where the centre point is love”
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• Director Charlotte Wells on her debut Aftersun — the most lauded British film of the year
• Latest Film News
• Vanessa Bryant Celebrates Late Daughter Gianna’s 18th Birthday With Capsule Collection
• Jessica Lange to Receive Munich Film Festival Honor
• In ‘Aftersun,’ Charlotte Wells makes a shattering debut

The tapes prompted reflection about how memory and film intertwine. Wells has sometimes spoken obliquely about the personal roots of Aftersun, describing it as “emotionally autobiographical”. But many details of the film have profound connections with her life.

Paul Mescal and Frankie Corio on Aftersun: “It’s rare to see a single-parent drama where the centre point is love”

He said that he was first diagnosed in 2016, and his most recent chemotherapy treatment was just one week prior, perThe Oregonian. For Sophie, the tapes are anchor points for her to remember memories. The things she sees in the tapes are a combination of things remembered and imagined. We are a cultural charity, a National Lottery funding distributor, and the UK’s lead organisation for film and the moving image. Here was the uncommonly mature debut of a filmmaker of masterful control and deep wells of empathy.

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Her reflections become a powerful and heartbreaking portrait of their relationship, as she tries to reconcile the dad she knew with the man she didn’t. Twenty years after she last saw Calum, Sophie reflects on that time, which they spent together in a Turkish holiday resort. Slowly creeping into adolescence, Sophie is trying to uncover her sexuality, and spending rare time with her young father, often mistaken for her brother. The camera was a record he had for himself that Sophie now has. The footage is the only point of view of Calum that Sophie and we have. Through the camera, we have his only direct point of view during their holiday in Turkey.

Director Charlotte Wells on her debut Aftersun — the most lauded British film of the year

Paul Mescal calls 'Aftersun' 'dress rehearsal' for fatherhood - Los Angeles Times

Paul Mescal calls 'Aftersun' 'dress rehearsal' for fatherhood.

Posted: Fri, 21 Oct 2022 07:00:00 GMT [source]

The adult perspective is her looking back at the memories and imagining what her father might have experienced during that time. Sophie stayed with her father at an all-inclusive under-construction hotel. The room was a tiny one; Sophie slept on the queen-size bed while her father settled in a cot. Sophie’s happiness meant the world to Calum, and he wanted her to enjoy every minute that they spent in Turkey. As Sophie fell asleep, Calum stepped out onto the balcony and smoked a cigarette.

One of the most gut-punching moments is when Calum casually mentions that he doesn’t think he’ll make it to 40 and is surprised he made it to 30. Calum is never diagnosed in Aftersun but he shows many signs of someone suffering from a form of depression. He tries to hide it from Sophie, but in moments of solitude, you see the pain, self-loathing, fear, and despair that surrounds him. WSN sat down with Wells to talk about her process writing “Aftersun,” her artistic influences, and what advice she has to give to fellow filmmakers from NYU. “Aftersun” has made its own waves playing on the festival circuit around the globe, including the New York Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival. Wells, who started out making movies as “an exercise for myself” has been surprised by how much “Aftersun” has resonated with others.

Vanessa Bryant Celebrates Late Daughter Gianna’s 18th Birthday With Capsule Collection

There are plenty of places where I was successfully able to do that in the film, but there’s others that I could never quite work out how to draw off the page. I think that will definitely affect the way I write going forward — just to have a better sense of what does translate and what doesn’t. I think it was also constructive for Paul that Frankie not know, because it forced him to protect her in the same way that the character, Calum, protects Sophie. There were moments on set where that had a really practical application.

There's no denying Princess Charlotte has a close bond with both of her brothers, Prince George and Prince Louis. Over the years, the royal children have shared many tender moments together at major events - from King Charles' coronation to the late Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee Celebrations. Saephan, previously a machinist for an aerospace company, told reporters from AP and The Oregonian that he was born in Laos and moved to Thailand in 1987, before immigrating to the U.S. in 1994.

Quaker Oats depicts father-and-son bond in first global platform by Uncommon - CampaignLive

Quaker Oats depicts father-and-son bond in first global platform by Uncommon.

Posted: Wed, 21 Feb 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]

She celebrates a birthday, and from the opening scenes, we know that Sophie and Calum have birthdays close to each other. Therefore, her aging could also make her think even more about her father, because his birthday is also coming up. Growing older seems to be a major starting point for the trip (a sort-of birthday celebration for Sophie and Calum), and aging may be why adult Sophie starts her journey of remembering her father.

The strobe lights make it hard to completely see and watch him. He’s also moving along a sea of others, almost lost and fading from her. Metaphorically, this could be his declining mental health and also her inability to hold on to memories as she ages and they become less vibrant. There are so many little moments like these, where Calum mentions something that shows he has been suffering from mental health issues for a while, probably since adolescence.

Wells talks about Aftersun, her haunting debut feature about a father taking his young daughter on holiday to Turkey and a semi-autobiographical exploration of childhood, memory and depression. When I ask how it felt to complete that first draft after 3 1/2 years, Wells grins, cracked open by the visceral memory of the moment. “It was the most uncomplicated sense of pride I’ve felt throughout the process. There was something so honest to it and surprising too, which was thrilling; the rave surprised me.” At this, Wells stands abruptly and retreats from the room. The rave she is referring to is a recurring interlude in which adult Sophie approaches Calum — the same age and appearance as we know him on the vacation — on a dance floor.

But I think there is one line through the film that is closer to mine, and I think that’s the one. In terms of sucker punch, when I saw Carol, Todd Haynes’s film, I knew nothing about it going in and hadn’t read the book. There was something in that film that I had never seen before. It was like seeing something of myself on screen that I hadn’t expressed.

So unfolds Tuesday, the first short film by the 35-year-old Scottish filmmaker Charlotte Wells, and one that bears many of the hallmarks found in her shattering feature debut, Aftersun. It, too, radiates with the glow of memory while coursing with an undertow of grief. This scene is juxtaposed with images of adult Sophie (Celia Rowlson-Hall) seeing her dad dancing at a rave. Then she holds him as the film flashes between child Sophie dancing and holding her father close and adult Sophie holding him so he cannot leave.

Sophie went to Turkey with her father when she was 11, and she had innumerable fond memories with him while staying at a cheap all-inclusive hotel. But as an adult, when she visits those memories, she realizes that her father was emotionally broken and needed a shoulder to cry on. She was too young then; she perhaps sensed that all was not well, but she was not capable of completely understanding her father. Now, as an adult, she realizes what her father went through, and she only hopes to hold him close. Aftersun is a coming-of-age drama which tells the story of a young woman, Sophie, recalling a holiday she took with her father, Calum (Paul Mescal), 20 years prior, for Calum's 31st birthday. The 11-year-old Sophie (Frankie Corio) does not spend a lot of time with her father, who does not live with her and her mother anymore.

It should come as no surprise, then, that “Aftersun” was shepherded along by Pastel, the production company co-founded by “Moonlight” director Barry Jenkins and his longtime producing partner Adele Romanski. It was Romanski who pushed her old film school pal Jenkins to get cracking on “Moonlight” after years of hesitation, and she found herself in a similar position when she first encountered Wells in 2017. As a metaphor for the difficulty of giving vent to painful emotions, a spout clogged with leaves is almost too apt.

Frankie Curio is extraordinary as young Sophie and Paul Mescal brilliantly depict the complexity of Calum’s character. It is exciting to think of Charlotte Wells’ future endeavors after this promising debut. Which isn’t to say you don’t consider the audience, but consciously trying to cater to other people while using it as a medium of self-expression seems a dangerous path to walk.