‘I’d often go on holiday with just my dad when he’d get mistaken for my brother... which he didn’t mind at all’

Aftersun has received praise since its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in April, with critics hailing filmmaker Charlotte Wells’ debut as “one of the best movies of the year”, writes Siobhan Synnot.

Meanwhile, the performances of Paul Mescal and Scots newcomer Frankie Corio have been hailed, with Vanity Fair saying the screen dad and daughter had an “achingly credible bond” with both actors nominated for Joint Lead Performance at this year’s prestigious British Independent Film Awards (Bifa).

The film follows a divorced dad and his young daughter Sophie as they enjoy a low-budget holiday in Turkey, a sunshine break that is a kind of farewell.

The autobiographical film is inspired by Wells’ recollections of a summer break she and her father took together in the ’90s.

She said: “I was flipping through old family albums and saw pictures of me and my dad on holiday and was struck by how young Dad looked and how young he was.

“I often went on holiday with just my dad, who often got mistaken for my brother, which he didn’t seem to mind.”

Wells, who left Scotland when she was 18 and is now based in New York, went to great lengths to capture the essence of her childhood recollections for the big screen, partly shooting the action on a handheld digital camcorder.

She told Filmmaker Toolkit podcast: “I remember the first time that we hooked up on set, we did a test of it one afternoon, and it was just Frankie jumping into the pool, the scene where she jumps on to the inflatable floater.

“And we had playback on a monitor, and you’re seeing through this monitor in 2021 at this Turkish hotel on the coast, this image that really looks like it could be from the late ’90s, and it is so surreal and evocative – at least I think for people of around my age who have a relationship to that type of footage, whose own childhood may be captured on that format.”

Mescal was a dream casting for any filmmaker but Wells said working with newcomer Corio was another godsend.

She said: “She’s extraordinary. She and Paul built up a real bond. Making films is hard and we were under pressure as our child laws meant we could only work with Frankie on camera for four hours a day. But Frankie is very positive, and she could be very funny about making my ‘sad little film’.”

Referring to a scene where Corio’s Sophie does an off-key karaoke performance of REM’s Losing My Religion while her dad squirms in the audience, Wells said: “And the thing is that Frankie can sing, but it wasn’t in her key, and she really dislikes the song.

“I always wanted to have a karaoke sequence that is the opposite of all the uplifting karaoke scenes in films. I think we nailed it, because my editor had to sit and listen to the song over and over again and he gave me a very hard time about it.”

Corio, from Livingston, applied for the role after seeing an ad on Facebook. She told The Sunday Post: “There was a thing on asking for short, tomboyish girls around my age to act in a film, so my mum sent in a picture of me. We got an audition in Glasgow and after about a week my mum got a call from the casting director saying that I had the part. It was so crazy and exciting.”

Working alongside one the UK’s biggest acting talents didn’t faze the young star – especially as she had no idea who Mescal was.

She said: “Before they started filming, we had some time to get to know each other so we’d swim and play pool a lot. He’s super laidback and very good at being cool, but he’s also very good at being embarrassing when he wants to be.

“He loves dancing and watching me squirm.”