Aftersun

Rising star Paul Mescal plays an angst-ridden parent on a charter trip in touching father-and-daughter drama that became the year’s main talking point at Cannes.

At a sun-drenched resort, eleven-year-old Sophie spends precious time with her father Calum. Together they enjoy the vacation’s slow and easy existence of swimming, umbrella drinks, and charter entertainment. But the golden surface of idle splashing in the pool and cozy father-and-daughter moments seethe with a darker version of reality. Mescal, the film world’s perhaps most hard-working actor, shines in the role as the loving father, balancing between the freedom of youth and the parent’s burden of responsibility. His co-star, the incredible Franke Corio, takes time with ease on the complex register of emotions that make Charlotte Well’s autobiographical debut a sun-warmed, bitter-sweet journey to tag along on.

• Annie Karlsson