--- title: "Aftersun: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/aftersun/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/aftersun" critics_score: 86 critics_reviews: 25 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Aftersun (2022): what the critics said Critics' score 86 from 25 reviews: 23 positive, 2 mixed, 0 negative. The reviews for Charlotte Wells’s debut are close to unanimous, and warm. Almost every critic begins with the two performances: Paul Mescal as the young father and Frankie Corio as his daughter, with several naming Corio as the discovery and praising Mescal for how much he keeps hidden behind the smile. The praise then moves to Wells’s handling of memory: the camcorder footage cut against dream images, the editing that lets past and present sit side by side, and the exact recreation of a late-1990s Turkish package holiday. The spread is narrow, and the reservations all concern what the film withholds. The Playlist finds the editing ambitious but the emotion failing to land; Digital Spy calls it style over substance with too little story; The Skinny misses the release that similar films provide. Even admirers concede it is at times opaque and that little happens. Most decide that is the point. ## Financial Times — Danny Leigh Rating ★★★★★. 17 November 2022. The review deems Aftersun a gossamer knockout and masterful nostalgic debut. It singles out the quietly spectacular central performances and Wells’s confident, image-driven storytelling for particular praise. [Read the review](https://www.ft.com/content/a7606f66-c0af-442a-a889-e80cbf660ead) ## Little White Lies — Savina Petkova Rating 4/5/5. 14 November 2022. The review highlights the film’s attention to tonal shifts and silences in the father-daughter relationship, with the camera work underscoring how the past and present coexist. It singles out the way the film transforms memory into an ode to cinema as a machine for remembering. [Read the review](https://lwlies.com/reviews/aftersun) ## Slant Magazine Rating ★★★★. 11 September 2022. Charlotte Wells crafts an arresting, achingly nostalgic portrait of a father-daughter relationship that is at once close and deeply fraught. The film is deftly constructed and utterly heartbreaking, announcing Wells as an eminent storyteller of prodigious powers. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/aftersun-review-charlotte-wells-paul-mescal/) ## Time Out — Anna Bogutskaya Rating 5/5. 22 May 2022. Festival review. The critic calls the film emotionally devastating, noting that nothing much happens yet every moment matters thanks to the chemistry between Paul Mescal and Frankie Corio. Wells weaves memories, home video and dreams into a vivid exploration of recollection and a father’s hidden sadness. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/aftersun-2022) ## IndieWire — David Ehrlich Rating A. 5 September 2022. Paul Mescal delivers a staggering performance as a young father on a Turkish holiday with his pre-teen daughter in Charlotte Wells’ stunning debut. The film explores the mysteries of parents and memory with remarkable emotional depth and beauty. [Read the review](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/movies/aftersun-review-1234758492/) ## Empire — Beth Webb Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 15 November 2022. The critic hails the film as a rare and special debut that summons deep poignancy and lingers long after the final moments. Wells is praised for her empathetic character study and inventive style, including the use of MiniDV footage, while the performances of Mescal and Corio are singled out for their tenderness and heartbreak. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/aftersun/) ## The Guardian — Peter Bradshaw Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 20 November 2022. The critic finds Charlotte Wells’s debut a stylistically daring and emotionally piercing tale of love and loss. It is praised for its breathtaking naturalism in performances and its dreamlike, hyperreal editing that bends time emotionally. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/nov/20/aftersun-review-charlotte-wells-luminous-father-daughter-drama-paul-mescal) ## The New Yorker — Anthony Lane Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 14 October 2022. Lane warmly praises Aftersun as an intimate film that retains control of its unstable, secretive material. He singles out Frankie Corio’s assured performance and Charlotte Wells’s evocative shifts between different kinds of images. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/10/24/whimsy-and-violence-in-the-banshees-of-inisherin) ## Vulture Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 21 October 2022. Aftersun is a dual portrait of a girl on the cusp of adolescence and a young man adrift in adulthood, a work of masterful and almost unbearable melancholy. It is one of the best movies of the year, centered on the act of remembering and trying to understand a loved one across time. [Read the review](https://www.vulture.com/2022/10/aftersun-movie-review-a-work-of-gorgeous-melancholy.html) ## Evening Standard — Charlotte O'Sullivan Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 18 November 2022. The review calls it a stunning debut with Mescal reaching new heights in a shape-shifting, non-Acting performance as the struggling father. Corio's naturalistic turn as the daughter is highlighted as a revelation, particularly in a poignant karaoke scene, making the meditation on memory and grief deeply affecting. [Read the review](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/aftersun-movie-review-paul-mescal-charlotte-wells-phoebe-bridgers-b1040442.html) ## Total Film Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 18 November 2022. The review celebrates the film as a blinding debut that captures the father-daughter dynamic with emotional depth and period detail. It singles out the heartfelt performances and evocative recreation of 1990s holiday memories as standout elements. [Read the review](https://www.gamesradar.com/aftersun-review/) ## Variety — Guy Lodge Rating Critics Pick. 21 May 2022. Festival review. A striking debut from British writer-director Charlotte Wells that finds rueful undercurrents in a tender father-daughter bond, powered by Paul Mescal’s charisma in a sensuous, sharply moving portrait of a summer vacation. [Read the review](https://variety.com/2022/film/festivals/aftersun-review-paul-mescal-1235273868/) ## Radio Times — Max Copeman Rating 4/5. The critic calls Charlotte Wells’s debut intimate and exquisite, marking her out as a director of considerable talent. Paul Mescal’s performance is singled out as phenomenal. [Read the review](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-8gszgp/aftersun/) ## The i Paper — Christina Newland Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 18 November 2022. The critic describes the elliptical, humane tragedy of feeling as a genuinely standout debut that is unshowy yet devastating. It excels in recalling the texture and details of a 1990s childhood holiday through memory and image, though it occasionally veers into opacity. [Read the review](https://inews.co.uk/culture/film/aftersun-review-paul-mescal-painfully-believable-working-class-dad-1973275) ## The Telegraph — Tim Robey Rating 4/5. 21 May 2022. Festival review. The review highlights the film’s mysterious emotional wallop and precise evocation of a late-90s Turkish holiday. It singles out Paul Mescal’s sublimely underplayed intimations of pain for praise. [Read the review](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2022/05/21/aftersun-review-beautiful-performance-normal-peoples-paul-mescal/) ## The AV Club Rating B. 18 October 2022. Writer-director Charlotte Wells transforms half-remembered experiences into a terrific study of familial dysfunction and parental guilt. The film features strong performances from Paul Mescal and Frankie Corio that help convey the tactile relationship between father and daughter. [Read the review](https://www.avclub.com/aftersun-review-charlotte-wells-paul-mescal-corio-1849666782) ## Los Angeles Times — Justin Chang 20 October 2022. One of the year’s great debut films, a piercing father-daughter story that sifts through memories with unhurried grace and circumspection, using atmosphere, elision and off-center framing to convey psychological interiority and overwhelming emotional force. [Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2022-10-20/aftersun-review-charlotte-wells-paul-mescal) ## RogerEbert.com — Sheila O'Malley 21 October 2022. The film sensitively explores a father-daughter vacation through the child's perceptive lens and the adult daughter's later imaginative empathy, highlighting the unknowable depths of the father's inner life alongside strong, natural performances. [Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/aftersun-movie-review-2022) ## Screen Daily 21 May 2022. Festival review. The review describes Aftersun as an unusual and ambitious debut with a dark well of grief at its core, praising Wells’s measured probing and the impressive performance from Paul Mescal. It notes that the film marks her as one of the most promising new voices in British cinema. [Read the review](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/aftersun-cannes-review/5170803.article) ## Sight and Sound 24 May 2022. Festival review. The critic praises Charlotte Wells’s assured debut for merging elliptical impressions of an unresolved father-daughter bond with sharp observation of Brits abroad. Paul Mescal and newcomer Frankie Corio deliver believable performances that anchor the film’s deep, ephemeral sadness. [Read the review](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/aftersun-peers-through-rosy-girlhood-memories-fathers-hidden-gloom) ## The Hollywood Reporter — Sheri Linden 21 May 2022. Festival review. Charlotte Wells’ sharp and tender debut is a rare father-and-child drama that leaves you wondering who the dad will grow up to be. It highlights the spellbinding performances of Paul Mescal and Frankie Corio as a young father and his daughter on a Turkish holiday, captured through memory and home video footage. [Read the review](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/paul-mescal-in-aftersun-cannes-review-1235147685/) ## The New York Times — A.O. Scott Rating Critic’s Pick. 20 October 2022. A tender and devastating debut feature about a father-daughter vacation in Turkey that embraces the universal fact of loss and heartbreak with astonishing emotional power. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/20/movies/aftersun-review.html) ## The Times — Kevin Maher Rating ★★★★☆. 18 November 2022. The critic calls this an astonishing debut that portrays paternal love and its lingering impact. It singles out Wells’s alchemic gift for capturing tiny silences and signs of danger around the father’s smiling persona. [Read the review](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/film/article/aftersun-review-a-discomforting-portrait-of-paternal-love-86vck5hb2) ## Collider — Chase Hutchinson Rating 10/10. 19 September 2022. Festival review. Aftersun is a reflective film about memory with the power to linger in your mind. It captures the fleeting nature of time through a deeply emotional father-daughter relationship, with standout performances by Mescal and Corio. [Read the review](https://collider.com/aftersun-review-paul-mescal-charlotte-wells/) ## Eye for Film — Amber Wilkinson Rating 4.5/5. 14 September 2022. Festival review. Wells blends the concrete reality of a 1990s package holiday with impressionistic elements in this character study of a father-daughter bond. Mescal and Corio are pitch-perfect, and the film is ambitious, daring, and powerful in its exploration of how past interactions become ambiguous with time. [Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/aftersun-2022-film-review-by-amber-wilkinson) ## The Wrap — Carlos Aguilar Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 20 October 2022. The critic hails the film as a heart-achingly stirring and sensorially entrancing debut that poignantly captures the passage of time as it affects parents and children. He singles out Wells' emotional maturity and narrative originality, along with the lead performances, particularly Mescal's portrayal of a conflicted young father. [Read the review](https://www.thewrap.com/aftersun-film-review-charlotte-wells-paul-mescal/) ## Deadline — Anna Smith Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 21 May 2022. Festival review. The critic finds the film an absorbing story of a father-daughter holiday that doubles as a meditation on memories and mental health challenges. She singles out the authentic, witty dialogue and strong chemistry between the leads for praise, along with the nostalgic 1990s soundtrack. [Read the review](https://deadline.com/2022/05/aftersun-cannes-film-review-paul-mescal-critics-week-1235029592/) ## /Film — Sarah Milner Rating 8/10. 14 September 2022. Festival review. The critic describes the film as a powerful, personal debut that slowly unravels a story of memory and father-daughter bonds through dreamy pacing and strong performances from Mescal and Corio. [Read the review](https://www.slashfilm.com/1007670/aftersun-review-charlotte-wells-quietly-breaks-hearts-tiff/) ## NME — James Mottram Rating 4/5. 18 November 2022. Praises it as the best British movie this year, a moody melancholic rumination on parenthood; singles out the intimate conversations and dreamy soundtrack for praise. [Read the review](https://www.nme.com/reviews/film-reviews/aftersun-review-paul-mescal-3351766) ## The Skinny — Iana Murray Rating ★★★★. 21 May 2022. Festival review. Highlights the subtle portrayal of the father-daughter relationship and excellent performances, but notes it lacks emotional release compared to similar films. [Read the review](https://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/new-releases/aftersun) ## The Playlist — Elena Lazic Rating C+. 21 May 2022. Festival review. The critic finds the film relies heavily on mood and vibes with strong work from Mescal but notes that its ambitious editing and emotional moments fail to fully connect despite undeniable feelings. [Read the review](https://theplaylist.net/aftersun-review-paul-mescal-elevates-a-hazy-90s-nostalgic-memory-thats-all-about-the-vibes-cannes-20220521/) ## Digital Spy — Gabriella Geisinger Fi1m's normalised score 50/100 (inferred from the text). 18 November 2022. The critic praises the heartrending performances of Paul Mescal and Frankie Corio but complains that the film is too much style over substance, lacking depth of story and leaving too much to the imagination. [Read the review](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a42001955/aftersun-review-how-to-watch/) ## Film Stories — Lauren Miles 17 October 2022. The critic praises the film's quiet and contemplative portrayal of a father-daughter relationship, highlighting the strong performances, particularly Frankie Corio's believable depiction of adolescence, while noting some pacing issues due to the simple plot. [Read the review](https://filmstories.co.uk/reviews/aftersun-review-a-subtly-powerful-first-feature-from-charlotte-wells/) ## HeyUGuys — Jo-Ann Titmarsh 23 May 2022. Festival review. The critic calls the film a hit at Cannes, praising the natural chemistry between Mescal and Corio, the fun and joyful tone despite underlying sadness, and Wells' avoidance of melodrama in this two-hander about a father-daughter holiday. [Read the review](https://www.heyuguys.com/aftersun-review/) ## Paste — Jesse Hassenger Rating 8.2. 1 October 2022. Aftersun is a gentle, modest drama that might break your heart in its portrayal of familial closeness and distance. The critic singles out the utterly believable performances of Mescal and Corio as making the film feel like a vivid memory. [Read the review](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/drama/aftersun-review) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/aftersun.md