Aftersun gay
Is Calum Gay in Aftersun? Theories
‘Aftersun’ is a drama film written and directed by Charlotte Wells. It tells the story of Calum and Sophie, a father and daughter who take a vacation at a Turkish resort on the eve of Calum’s 31st birthday. On vacation, the father and daughter have unique experiences recorded on a video camera. As the narrative progresses, viewers realize that the film is a retrospective stare at Calum’s being through Sophie’s memories.
Sophie’s attempts to reconcile with her father and understand the person he was outside of creature a father to her leads to a riveting, emotionally tumultuous journey for the viewers. The film sheds some light upon Calum’s struggles as an adult but never really defines them in a meaningful fashion. Therefore, questions linger over Calum’s sexuality. If you are wondering whether Calum is male lover in ‘Aftersun,’ here are our theories on the matter! SPOILERS AHEAD!
Theory 1: Calum Is Gay
In ‘Aftersun,’ Irish actor Paul Mescal (‘Normal People‘) essays the role of Calum, a unattached father who is turning thirty-one soon. Calum is from Scotland but no longer
The Subtle Emotional Sorcery of ‘Aftersun’
When my local cinema rescreened Aftersun this week, I experienced things I’ve never seen a movie accomplish. After the terminal scene, the entire theater remained silent. Nobody moved. Behind, you could perceive people crying, sniffing, wiping their tears. Even when the lights turned on, most people remained seated. You could palpably sense that the entire room was affected by the emotional sorcery of Aftersun.
But really, the end of this movie was only where its force began to unravel for me. In the tracking days, I kept reflecting on the bittersweet story of Aftersun. Over and over again, I revisited the hauntingly beautiful soundtrack, the captivating cinematography, and the poignant narrative. It’s rare that a movie hits me so deeply. It was as if Aftersun had mixed an heartfelt cocktail I’d never tasted before and served it with a curly straw and an umbrella.
So, what is it about Aftersun that makes us perceive so deeply? What makes it such a beautifully haunting movie? Here’s an attempt to retort this question based on my obsessive engagement with Aftersun’s story, atmosphere, and cinematography.
***Spoilers below***
1. Raving Humanizing The Vacuum
While plenty of films have limned the erotic overtones of mother-son (White Heat, The Manchurian Candidate, Murmur of the Heart) and father-daughter relationships (Voyager, Somewhere, Leave No Trace) they have rarely done so with the delicacy, lightness, and wit of Aftersun. British writer-director Charlotte Wells avoids camp like a dead animal on the road and tiptoes around stuffiness appreciate a drunk at a ballet. Credit goes to a script that allows Wells the lacuna necessary for her camera to capture rich, suggestive moments of intimacy. Also to newcomer Frankie Curio and Paul Mescal (the crush in Normal People) who inhabit the daughter and father with the specificity with which vague people we glimpse on universal transportation and in cafes present themselves to our gaze.
From the oversaturated, ill-defined lighting and aspect ratios of a camcorder and the blobby pathos of Blur’s “Tender” blasting diegetically from the common areas, Wells wants audiences to get comfortable with the late 1990s again. Aftersun cuts between the Tony Blair era and the present day, but most of the film consists of an affectionate if not always
mssv
Really, spoilers! Look away now!
I’ll place my theory plainly: Calum is gay or bisexual, and he has AIDS. He knows this, and he believes he only a short amount of period to live. He hasn’t told anyone – not his ex-wife and certainly not his daughter, Sophie, because this is the 90s and there’s still a thick social stigma around AIDS in the UK. He dies not long after the holiday.
There is nothing at all in the movie that absolutely confirms my theory, but every moment was written and directed to be freighted with suggestion, and I think those suggestions are congruent with my theory. But even if you aren’t watching with the intention of trying to puzzle out the movie’s sense, as I did because that’s who I am, you can’t help but notice the instinct of mystery and dread that surrounds Sophie and Calum’s partnership with each other and with the people they meet. All of that is to speak, I won’t get mad if you or Charlotte Wells, the director, tells me I’m mistaken. It’s just that the show was obviously produced to authorize for this speculation.
Why do I think Calum isn’t straight? Him being a father certainly doesn’t prove anything. We do notice about his various abortive re
Humanizing The Vacuum
While plenty of films have limned the erotic overtones of mother-son (White Heat, The Manchurian Candidate, Murmur of the Heart) and father-daughter relationships (Voyager, Somewhere, Leave No Trace) they have rarely done so with the delicacy, lightness, and wit of Aftersun. British writer-director Charlotte Wells avoids camp like a dead animal on the road and tiptoes around stuffiness appreciate a drunk at a ballet. Credit goes to a script that allows Wells the lacuna necessary for her camera to capture rich, suggestive moments of intimacy. Also to newcomer Frankie Curio and Paul Mescal (the crush in Normal People) who inhabit the daughter and father with the specificity with which vague people we glimpse on universal transportation and in cafes present themselves to our gaze.
From the oversaturated, ill-defined lighting and aspect ratios of a camcorder and the blobby pathos of Blur’s “Tender” blasting diegetically from the common areas, Wells wants audiences to get comfortable with the late 1990s again. Aftersun cuts between the Tony Blair era and the present day, but most of the film consists of an affectionate if not always
mssv
Really, spoilers! Look away now!
I’ll place my theory plainly: Calum is gay or bisexual, and he has AIDS. He knows this, and he believes he only a short amount of period to live. He hasn’t told anyone – not his ex-wife and certainly not his daughter, Sophie, because this is the 90s and there’s still a thick social stigma around AIDS in the UK. He dies not long after the holiday.
There is nothing at all in the movie that absolutely confirms my theory, but every moment was written and directed to be freighted with suggestion, and I think those suggestions are congruent with my theory. But even if you aren’t watching with the intention of trying to puzzle out the movie’s sense, as I did because that’s who I am, you can’t help but notice the instinct of mystery and dread that surrounds Sophie and Calum’s partnership with each other and with the people they meet. All of that is to speak, I won’t get mad if you or Charlotte Wells, the director, tells me I’m mistaken. It’s just that the show was obviously produced to authorize for this speculation.
Why do I think Calum isn’t straight? Him being a father certainly doesn’t prove anything. We do notice about his various abortive re