Aftersun

Sophie and her father Calum arrive at a warm, sunlit Turkish resort for a holiday that will become a lasting memory. The trip is filtered through Sophie’s MiniDV camera, turning ordinary moments into tiny, flickering fragments of a summer. The pair settle into a rhythm shaped by the scenery, the laughter of other vacationers, and the unspoken weight Calum carries beneath his outward cheer.

Sophie starts documenting their days with her MiniDV camera, turning daylight into a portable memory reel. Her footage captures carefree moments, but also reveals the subtle distances growing between her and Calum. The camera becomes a steady witness to their uneasy balance between happiness and hidden worry.

Calum moves through the days with practiced composure, masking anxiety and depression behind a smile. He seeks quiet rituals—tai chi, self-help books, and late-night cigarettes—that offer brief solace from inward storms. Sophie notices the tension beneath his surface, sensing a distance that never fully disappears.

During a scuba diving excursion, Sophie loses an expensive mask, triggering a moment when Calum’s casual reaction reveals vulnerability he normally hides. The episode unsettles the pair and loosens the thread of their bond, hinting at a fear neither fully voices. The dive becomes a turning point in how Sophie perceives her father’s quiet struggle.

In a rugs shop, the price of a beloved rug becomes a tangible symbol of Calum’s choices and compromises. He contemplates what he can afford to give up or keep, recognizing the weight of protecting Sophie while protecting himself. The moment underscores the practical consequences of his inner battles.

That night, Sophie signs them up for a duet, but Calum initially resists. Undeterred, she performs 'Losing My Religion' solo, and Calum watches with a mix of pride and sadness. The scene marks a hinge between childlike certainty and a more complicated adult awareness.

The following day, a playful pool moment becomes tense when an unexpected tourist creeps up behind Sophie. The intrusion punctures the holiday’s carefree surface and reminds them of the lurking edge in their environment. Sophie’s poise and Calum’s restrained reaction deepen the sense of unspoken risk.

After the pool moment, Sophie and Calum share a quiet reconciliation that restores a fragile balance between them. The resort’s rhythm drifts toward a birthday surprise and small acts of warmth that momentarily ease the distance. Their bond remains delicate, threaded through with care and hesitation.

The resort’s guests contribute to Calum’s birthday with gentle, collective raising of voices, turning the space into a chorus of affection. The gesture offers a rare, communal display of warmth that softens the fragile tension between father and daughter. For Sophie, it’s a moment of memory-making that compounds the summer’s emotional undercurrents.

A postcard appears on the floor of the hotel room, addressed to Sophie with the line, 'never forget that I love you.' Calum’s facade cracks, and the camera lingers on his quiet, overwhelmed expression. The moment crystallizes the inner pain that memory will carry long after the holiday ends.

On the final night, Sophie and Calum share a dance to 'Under Pressure' and an embrace that feels both intimate and heartbreakingly fragile. The moment crystallizes the hinge between tenderness and the fragility of their relationship. The resort’s lights and the memory of the camera’s gaze linger as they prepare to part.

At dawn they part at the airport, and Calum’s farewell is quiet but lasting—an imprint of a father’s love shaped by his own burdens. The scene emphasizes the real cost of love when sheltering someone means stepping away. Sophie carries the memory forward as she boards the plane.

Years later, Sophie lives in New York with her wife and their child, and she replays the Turkish footage that once captured a summer so bright and fragile. The film within the film moves across two timelines, merging sunshine with memory’s ache. The camera’s eye becomes a bridge between a past summer and a life that followed.

Interwoven dreamlike sequences show adult Sophie in a crowded rave, glimpsing Calum dancing through pulsing lights. They rush toward each other in a fleeting reach, but he slips away again, leaving Sophie with a lingering ache. The final image has Calum placing the camcorder aside and moving toward the rave’s glow, a closing note on memory’s pull.