why you absolutely must not miss this heartbreaking film

Faced with the mastodon that is Asterix and Obelix: The Middle Kingdomwhich will be released the same day in cinemas, aftersun goes almost unnoticed. And that’s really a shame. Directed by Charlotte Wells, this American-British feature film won the Grand Prize and the Critics’ Prize at the last Deauville Festival, as well as the French Touch Prize from the Critics’ Week Jury at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. In theaters this February 1, 2023, aftersun follows Sophie’s vacation with her father in a seaside resort in Turkey. Years later, now in her thirties, she tries to reconcile the memory she has of her father and what was really happening under her child’s eyes.

This Drama is probably one of the most beautiful released at the beginning of 2023. By alternating between past and present, Charlotte Wells paints the portrait of a tender and intimate relationship between a father and his daughter, while questioning the gaze that we focus on his memories (and his parents) as an adult: what did we not see that we should have seen? What does the adult understand that the child did not understand? Thanks to a fine and creative staging, the director signs with aftersun a heartbreaking film, which is probably one of the most beautiful films to see in theaters at the start of 2023.

Synopsis – The fateful milestone of 30 years is approaching for Sophie. Shortly before her birthday, she remembers the holidays she spent twenty years earlier alongside her father, in a seaside resort in Turkey. With all the carelessness of a child, the images of this era pass before her eyes. This period was complicated since his father and mother were divorced, the latter living in London, far from the two young women, who remained in Edinburgh. During this stay, her father tried to get closer to her, despite her many faults, by doing many activities by her side, while trying to open her heart…