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Award-winning drama is streaming free on BBC iPlayer - 'true masterpiece'
Reach Daily Express | December 17, 2025 5:40 PM CST

An award-winning movie is currently available to stream for free on BBC iPlayer.

Aftersun is a 2022 coming-of-age drama film written and directed by Charlotte Wells in her feature directorial debut. The semi-autobiographical movie stars Paul Mescal, Frankie Corio, and Celia Rowlson-Hall, and is loosely based on Wells' childhood, following an 11-year-old Scottish girl on holiday with her father at a Turkish resort.

The film's synopsis reads: "At a fading vacation resort, 11-year-old Sophie treasures rare time together with her loving and idealistic father, Calum (Mescal). As a world of adolescence creeps into view, beyond her eye, Calum struggles under the weight of life outside of fatherhood. Twenty years later, Sophie's tender recollections of their last holiday become a powerful and heartrending portrait of their relationship, as she tries to reconcile the father she knew with the man she didn't, in Charlotte Wells' superb and searingly emotional debut film."

Aftersun had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on in 2022, where Wells was nominated for the Caméra d'Or. The film received widespread acclaim from critics, who praised the direction, screenplay, cinematography, visuals, and performances of Corio and Mescal. Aftersun received four nominations at the 76th BAFTA Awards, where Wells won for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer. Mescal was nominated as Best Lead Actor at the 95th Academy Awards, in addition to receiving a BAFTA nomination in the same category. The National Board of Review named Aftersun one of the best films of 2022, and Sight and Sound ranked it first on its list of the best films of 2022. Since then, it has often been cited among the best films of the 2020s and the 21st century.

The film has a near-perfect rating of 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, with the critics' consensus reading: "Led by Frankie Corio's tremendous performance, Aftersun deftly ushers audiences to the intersection between our memories of loved ones and who they really are."

One viewer on the movie reviewing platform said: "Truly a masterpiece. A heartening memory that I never wanted to end."

Another reviewer wrote: "With an overwhelming sense is nostalgia throughout this whole film, I absolutely loved it. The acting, both daughter and dad, did a phenomenal job and expressing true emotions, and with little dialogue, which is impressive. The simple, yet beautiful shots, the genuine love between the daughter and dad... 10/10 loved this film."

"I watched Aftersun late evening, and I couldn't stop thinking about the journey portrayed. Charlotte Wells' film has profoundly changed me as a person at the age of 61. Paul and Frankie's Dad & Daughter connection felt like that of my own life. I watched it again the very next morning, with many pause breaks to wash away many tears. I'll gather myself and revisit 'Aftersun' someday. Thank you to all involved with this incredible production. Warm, beautifully engaging and heartbreaking," added a third.

Aftersun is available to stream now on BBC iPlayer.


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