Definitely gonna be an incoherent mess of a review but that’s definitely one of the best films I’ve ever seen - Charlotte Wells, Paul Mescal, Frankie Corio all absolutely perfect in everything they did in this, completely in awe. 

I don’t know the best place to start but this firstly captures the innocence of childhood perfectly, it felt so tangible and genuine. All of Sophie’s desires, behaviours etc are so real, the intimate nature of the cinematography, and the classic (maybe British) holiday traditions, routines, sounds, textures. It’s literally perfect and more honest and legitimate than my own faded memories of those holidays. 

I had so many thoughts throughout, about how children just act on genuine reactions and emotions and how we train that out of ourselves, sometimes for the worse. About cycles in lives and how vicious they can be and how much bravery and will it can take from a person to break a vicious cycle, whilst it is so easy for a vicious cycle to start and require that strong resistance to break it once more. So many of the problems we face we aren’t ready to deal with and by the time we are it’s either too late or there’s 30 other problems all screaming that they're the priority and sometimes there’s just no good answer. Our experiences and the emotional weight of experiences are so subjective and change with time - in a time where you speak to your friend and you’re cruising in life with little difficulties and minimal heavy thoughts/feelings it can seem insignificant whereas another time it can feel monumental and deep - events and experiences are completely relevant to the ones who experience them and there is no objective reality that can dismiss how someone experiences it - the subjective feeling is the truth. And again, this can change with time - reflection on an event or a conversation can change its nature and it becomes more meaningful than it was at the time for yourself. And this is scary to me because too much thought of this can add too much weight to everything you do - only knowing things in hindsight is too difficult to navigate life with and it’s impossible to carry things out in a way that will work for every possible outcome that you don’t even have time to think about in the moment. The same way we are presented with problems that we can’t prevent and often cannot fix, this is something that you just have to accept. 

Whilst many of these thoughts seem quite negative and existential, it was also a beautiful film. Firstly visually - the film and the colours, the wide peaceful shots, the intimate, tangible, textured shots - so immersive and subtle. The love between the characters also was beautiful - so much care and genuine good will. The nostalgic tone was perfect too - a childhood holiday should feel this magic and sentimental and it does. The scene where they’re sat and lying on the bed and he’s talking about how Sophie has everything ahead of her and can do anything is my favourite. 

I didn’t actually properly cry during the film, even during the final scene(s), but as I reflected on the film afterwards it did get to me. Such a heart aching ending. And as I thought about how I relate to things in my own life, and how others will watch this and feel that combination of pain and comfort through their direct experiences too, it hit me hard how poignant this film, and the experience of watching this film is. I will not rewatch this immediately but I definitely will do again.