Is 'Aftersun' streaming? Where to watch the Paul Mescal movie from home

It's one of the best-reviewed movies of the year but is Aftersun streaming anywhere yet?

Charlotte Wells' directorial debut features Normal People star-slash-Phoebe Bridgers ex Paul Mescal opposite 13-year-old newcomer Frankie Corio in a father-daughter relationship that mirrors Wells' own, a movingly nostalgic coming-of-age story that won the coveted Jury Prize at this year's Cannes Film Festival. 

But can you watch the sweet flick from the comfort of your own couch yet? (And you're going to want to—if you're like us, you're going to want to do your Kim Kardashian-level ugly-crying to that "Under Pressure" scene in the privacy of your own home.) Here's all of the Afterstun streaming information we have so far. 

Is 'Aftersun' streaming? Where to watch it online:

Released by A24—the same studio behind some of our favorites like Lady Bird, Moonlight and Midsommar—Aftersun hit theaters on Friday, October 21, 2022. 

If you're wondering where to stream Aftersun, there are a couple of options at the moment. You can currently rent Aftersun on Amazon Prime Video for $4.99 or Apple TV for $5.99, or you can buy it for $19.99 on Prime Video, Apple TV, Google Play, and YouTube. 

 In terms of subscription-based streamers, however, a digital release date has not yet been announced. Based on the studio's release history, though, we can expect the title to become available digitally about 45 days after its theatrical release, like A24 films before it. That means we can potentially see Aftersun on streaming in January 2023. 

We know that Aftersun will not be carried on HBO Max, since it's not a Warner Bros. title, nor is it likely to see it on Netflix later this year. Rather, A24 has a streaming deal with Showtime for all of the company's non-Apple titles, so it would be fair to assume that you'll be able to stream it there in the near future in the states. 

As for the UK, MUBI bought the rights to Aftersun out of Cannes and released the film in the United Kingdom on Friday, November 18, so it will likely be available for streaming on the MUBI platform outside of the US. 

For those who haven't used MUBI before, you can actually access it via Amazon Prime. You can sign up to a free 7-day MUBI trial on Amazon Prime Video and watch Aftersun there. After the 7-day trial, you will have the option to £9.99 per month to continue watching movies available on MUBI via Prime.

Watch the 'Aftersun' trailer:

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'Aftersun' plot: what is it about?

*Warning: spoilers ahead!*

An aching memory piece, Aftersun tells the story of Sophie (Frankie Corio), a plucky 11-year-old spending a summer vacation at a Turkish seaside resort with her 30-year-old, single father Calum (Paul Mescal) in the 1990s. 

It flashes back and forth from that land of pool days, first kisses and thread hair wraps to the present, where adult Sophia (played by Celia Rowlson-Hall) is entering parenthood herself and contending with her memories of a man who she deeply loved but didn't fully understand. 

Is 'Aftersun' based on a true story?

Director Charlotte Wells has been forthright that Aftersun is "emotionally autobiographical" about her own childhood with her father, telling W Magazine: "I allowed, in the early stages of the film, my own memories and anecdotes from holidays and throughout childhood to inform the skeleton outline of the script. The process of digging through my past eventually infiltrated the film itself, and it took on this retroactive gaze."

She continued: "These characters—while their starting point was certainly inspired by me and my dad—were ultimately infused by many different people, fictional and otherwise. As you move toward production, the story diverges from this place of self in a way that allows you to put yourself on the page in a way that feels very exposing, but less exposing once you get to the final film, because it has transformed into its own thing."

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