YMMV / Aftersun

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• Award Snub:
  • Some people expected Aftersun to perform better at the BAFTAs given it was one of the most acclaimed British films of the year. It received four nods, but some feel that Charlotte Wells in particular should have been nominated for Best Director and Best Screenplay.
  • It was also all but ignored at the Oscars, with its only nomination being Best Actor for Paul Mescal. Many felt it should have gotten nominations for Best Picture, Director and Original Screenplay.
• Awesome Music: "Under Pressure" is used to a striking effect here. Here's the composer's official upload of the song as it appears in the film.
• Signature Scene: Sophie's dance with her father on their last day at the resort interspersed with the Imagine Spot of her adult self and Calum at a rave, all set to "Under Pressure", known for its excellent direction and quietly devastating tone.
• Tear Jerker: It's a movie about the last time an eleven-year-old girl spends time with her emotionally and financially struggling, yet unconditionally loving father. What part of that wouldn't bring any kind of tear to your eye?
  • Since it's heavily implied that Calum killed himself and that it happened shortly after the vacation he went on with Sophie, this adds another level of poignance to an already melancholic film: he probably wanted to spend one last time with his daughter before he offed himself and wanted her to at least have some happy memories of him before he left her life entirely.
  • Calum admits to not being able to imagine himself living to the age of 40 and is surprised he made it to 30. He then retracts the statement, ashamed of his honesty.
  • The initially very Heartwarming Moment of Sophie convincing all the other tourists to wish Calum a happy birthday becomes incredibly heartbreaking when Calum finds himself unable to express happiness at the kind gesture, and the scene transitions to him crying a very guttural cry alone back in the hotel room. Truth in Television, individuals suffering from severe depression have an incredibly difficult time appreciating gifts and kind gestures because they find it even more difficult to believe they deserve them.
  • The final scene of the movie; Calum, after seeing Sophie off at the airport, stands in an empty hallway and wistfully closes the camera he was recording her with before walking down to the way out. When he goes through the doors, its briefly shown to lead to the nightclub Imagine Spot Sophie's been having. It's a simple yet extremely melancholic way of demonstrating how this was the last time Calum and Sophie ever saw each other and how there are parts of her father that Sophie never really got closure on.
• The Woobie: Calum and Sophie. The former tries his best to provide unconditional love and support to his daughter despite his severe depression, but the ending heavily implies he couldn't overcome the idea of suicide. The latter, meanwhile, is an innocent girl who must eventually grow up without her father.

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