Aftersun
Sophie reflects on the shared joy and private melancholy of a holiday she took with her father twenty years earlier. Memories real and imagined fill the gaps between as she tries to reconcile the father she knew with the man she d...
The film earned $7.8M at the global box office.
Nominated for 1 Oscar. 96 wins & 186 nominations
Plot Structure
Story beats plotted across runtime
Narrative Arc
Emotional journey through the story's key moments
Story Circle
Blueprint 15-beat structure
Arcplot Score Breakdown
Weighted: Precision (70%) + Arc (15%) + Theme (15%)
Aftersun (2022) demonstrates strategically placed plot construction, characteristic of Charlotte Wells's storytelling approach. This structural analysis examines how the film's 15-point plot structure maps to proven narrative frameworks across 1 hour and 41 minutes. With an Arcplot score of 7.0, the film balances conventional beats with creative variation.
Characters
Cast & narrative archetypes
Calum
Sophie (11 years old)
Adult Sophie
Main Cast & Characters
Calum
Played by Paul Mescal
A young father struggling with depression and inner turmoil during a Turkish vacation with his daughter, masking pain behind warmth and playfulness.
Sophie (11 years old)
Played by Frankie Corio
An observant, curious 11-year-old girl on vacation with her father, trying to understand him while navigating her own coming-of-age moments.
Adult Sophie
Played by Celia Rowlson-Hall
The adult version of Sophie reflecting on memories of her father from the perspective of understanding and loss.
Structural Analysis
The Status Quo at 1 minutes (1% through the runtime) establishes Young Sophie films her father Calum with a camcorder at the resort. Establishes the "before" - a seemingly ordinary father-daughter vacation, capturing moments that will later be scrutinized for meaning. Adult Sophie's POV established through grainy video aesthetic.. Notably, this early placement immediately immerses viewers in the story world.
The inciting incident occurs at 11 minutes when First clear glimpse of Calum's depression: he struggles with his meditation tape, sits alone in shadows. Sophie catches him in a moment of pain he quickly masks. The vacation façade cracks - what seemed like a fun trip reveals itself as something Calum is performing through, a goodbye he's orchestrating.. At 10% through the film, this Disruption aligns precisely with traditional story structure. This beat shifts the emotional landscape, launching the protagonist into the central conflict.
The First Threshold at 23 minutes marks the transition into Act II, occurring at 23% of the runtime. This reveals the protagonist's commitment to Sophie chooses to stay out late with the older teenagers rather than return to Calum. Her first step toward independence, toward a life separate from him. Calum encourages this, understanding she needs to grow beyond him. The threshold into adolescence that will continue after he's gone., moving from reaction to action.
At 48 minutes, the Midpoint arrives at 48% of the runtime—precisely centered, creating perfect narrative symmetry. Of particular interest, this crucial beat Calum's arm injury/cast becomes prominent. Sophie asks about it; he's vague. A literal wound that symbolizes the invisible pain he carries. The physicalization of what he cannot speak. False victory: their connection seems strong, but we understand he's already decided to leave., fundamentally raising what's at risk. The emotional intensity shifts, dividing the narrative into clear before-and-after phases.
The Collapse moment at 72 minutes (71% through) represents the emotional nadir. Here, Calum breaks down crying alone in the hotel room while Sophie sleeps. He lies on the floor in darkness, completely undone. The whiff of death: we understand this man is drowning, and Sophie - asleep, innocent - cannot save him. The unbridgeable gap made manifest., reveals the protagonist at their lowest point. This beat's placement in the final quarter sets up the climactic reversal.
The Second Threshold at 80 minutes initiates the final act resolution at 79% of the runtime. Sophie and Calum separate at the airport. He puts her on the plane alone. In retrospect, this is goodbye forever - but Sophie doesn't know it yet. Adult Sophie understands she's searching the tapes for a moment that isn't there: the moment she could have saved him. Accepts she was a child who couldn't bear what he carried., demonstrating the transformation achieved throughout the journey.
Emotional Journey
Aftersun's emotional architecture traces a deliberate progression across 15 carefully calibrated beats.
Narrative Framework
This structural analysis employs a 15-point narrative structure framework that maps key story moments. By mapping Aftersun against these established plot points, we can identify how Charlotte Wells utilizes or subverts traditional narrative conventions. The plot point approach reveals not only adherence to structural principles but also creative choices that distinguish Aftersun within the drama genre.
Comparative Analysis
Additional drama films include Eye for an Eye, South Pacific and Kiss of the Spider Woman.
Plot Points by Act
Act I
SetupStatus Quo
Young Sophie films her father Calum with a camcorder at the resort. Establishes the "before" - a seemingly ordinary father-daughter vacation, capturing moments that will later be scrutinized for meaning. Adult Sophie's POV established through grainy video aesthetic.
Theme
Calum to Sophie: "You'll be looking after me when I'm old." Sophie: "You'll only be 51 when I'm 40." The age calculation that haunts the film - a casual exchange that hints at Calum's awareness he won't reach old age, and the unbridgeable distance between how Sophie sees him and his interior reality.
Worldbuilding
Establishing the vacation world: the Turkish resort, Sophie's 11th birthday trip, Calum's easy affection and playfulness. Intercut with adult Sophie watching the tapes, establishing the dual timeline. We see Calum's tenderness, his separated status from Sophie's mother, his modest means (sharing a room). Small details hint at his fragility.
Disruption
First clear glimpse of Calum's depression: he struggles with his meditation tape, sits alone in shadows. Sophie catches him in a moment of pain he quickly masks. The vacation façade cracks - what seemed like a fun trip reveals itself as something Calum is performing through, a goodbye he's orchestrating.
Resistance
Sophie navigates between childhood innocence and emerging awareness. She plays with other kids, flirts with older teenagers, while increasingly noticing Calum's withdrawal. Calum tries to be present - playing pool, swimming, dancing - but his performance of normalcy becomes more visible. Sophie doesn't yet understand what she's witnessing.
Act II
ConfrontationFirst Threshold
Sophie chooses to stay out late with the older teenagers rather than return to Calum. Her first step toward independence, toward a life separate from him. Calum encourages this, understanding she needs to grow beyond him. The threshold into adolescence that will continue after he's gone.
Mirror World
Adult Sophie in the present, rewinding and rewatching the tapes obsessively. The "mirror world" is the act of remembering itself - adult Sophie trying to reach back through time to understand her father, to find the clues she missed. This relationship with memory carries the film's theme.
Premise
The heart of the vacation: father and daughter moments that seem mundane but are weighted with loss. Karaoke night, sun cream application, shared meals, Sophie's birthday. Calum photographs Sophie constantly - creating the archive she'll inherit. The mundane becomes precious through retrospection.
Midpoint
Calum's arm injury/cast becomes prominent. Sophie asks about it; he's vague. A literal wound that symbolizes the invisible pain he carries. The physicalization of what he cannot speak. False victory: their connection seems strong, but we understand he's already decided to leave.
Opposition
Tensions emerge: Sophie's impatience with Calum's limitations (financial, emotional), Calum's withdrawal into himself. Sophie orbits between childhood play and teenage experimentation. Calum watches her growing up, knowing he won't see her adult. The rave sequences intensify - adult Sophie's fragmented memory-dreams of searching for Calum in strobe-lit darkness.
Collapse
Calum breaks down crying alone in the hotel room while Sophie sleeps. He lies on the floor in darkness, completely undone. The whiff of death: we understand this man is drowning, and Sophie - asleep, innocent - cannot save him. The unbridgeable gap made manifest.
Crisis
The final day of vacation. Small conflicts: lost goggles, Sophie's sullenness, the awareness that this is ending. Calum works to end on a good note. Under the Bridge plays. They dance together one last time. Adult Sophie processes the impossibility of recovering what's lost, of truly knowing another person, even one you love.
Act III
ResolutionSecond Threshold
Sophie and Calum separate at the airport. He puts her on the plane alone. In retrospect, this is goodbye forever - but Sophie doesn't know it yet. Adult Sophie understands she's searching the tapes for a moment that isn't there: the moment she could have saved him. Accepts she was a child who couldn't bear what he carried.
Synthesis
The rave sequences crescendo - adult Sophie lost in strobe lights, searching through crowds for Calum. Memory fragments kaleidoscope. She finds him dancing alone, tries to reach him through the glass of time and death. The act of remembering, of trying to hold someone who's gone. The synthesis is acceptance of permanent incompleteness.
Transformation
Adult Sophie, now a mother herself, reaches Calum's age from the calculation. She understands him differently - as a whole person who struggled, not just as "dad." The camcorder footage loops. She turns off the TV. The transformation: accepting the parent as unknowable, loving the fragments that remain, carrying the absence forward.