The theme of the relationship between children and parents has always been difficult. Not always, the child understands and can understand and realize how many external problems, as well as his “internal cockroaches”, an adult independent person has to constantly fight.
After all, while the child is small, all issues are most often decided for him by the parents. And it only remains for him to progressively cognize the world around him. Perhaps not always with joy, sometimes with sorrow, but at the same time, it is the parents who try to ease this period of growing up as much as possible. To make sure that children as late as possible face the practical and psychological problems of an adult and sometimes very cruel world.
Released in 2022, The Sunshine Is Mine, by young screenwriter Charlotte Wells, details this kind of psychological relationship between father and child.
What is the movie “My Sunshine” about?
In essence, the film “The Sun is Mine” is the story of the memories of a young woman named Sophie.
On the eve of her next birthday, sorting through the videos folded in chronological order, Sophie finds one unique tape. Tape from 20 years ago.
It captures footage of Sophie and her dad Calum’s rare summer vacation. The fact is that Sophie’s father and mother are divorced, Calum lives in Scotland, and Sophie and her mother live in the UK.
And Sophie rarely sees her father. And just such a moment of a warm summer vacation that Sophie and Calum spent in Turkey and was captured on film.
Watching this video, Sophie seems to be revisiting her teenage experiences.
She returns to her memories of 20 years ago. Here she and her dad come to the famous resort in Turkey before his 31st birthday, on the eve of his birthday. Beautiful, colorful hotel, with a wide variety of entertainment. Animators, shopping, diving, beaches and of course the sea, the sun, and beloved dad.
They spend a lot of time together, but despite the fact that Calum loves his daughter very much, he periodically keeps aloof. It is this detachment that Sophie does not understand. In addition, there are not many peers of her age in the hotel. And she has to meet and communicate with people who are resting nearby much older.
The film plunges adult Sophie into a maelstrom of childhood memories. Here she and her dad buy an expensive beautiful Turkish carpet in the market, despite the high cost, her father still gives her a gift. But she lost her protective mask while diving, which upset her dad. She tries to understand what is happening to him. But many situations and moments are beyond the understanding of an 11-year-old girl.
She has her own teenage vibes. And hobbies, and euphoria from a new place. In addition, it was at this time that teenage hobbies, common to all girls, arise. But dad doesn’t always understand her. He has his own, adult restrictions, which are not always clear to her. And of course, she doesn’t agree with all of them.
Sophie tries her best to understand her beloved dad. She misses him so much. But only in adulthood, looking at the footage of the family newsreel, she realizes with regret and sadness how much Calum kept silent, trying to protect her from his disappointments.
In many frames, she sees him sadly sitting with a glass of wine in detached loneliness, trying to cope with the onset of depression on his own, while she plays or communicates with young people.
And only now, having matured, she understands how difficult it was for him to simultaneously be her right dad and suppress his growing anxiety due to difficult moments in life. Which didn’t always work out, and how difficult it was for him to deal with it, shielding her from the complexities of adulthood, and how difficult it was to be loving and understanding at the same time.
The meaning of the film “My Sun”
In the film, as a penetrating thin ribbon interrupted by various childhood memories, a ribbon of personal relationships between the child and the parent rushes by. How it builds up, which is why moments appear in the family when the child cannot simply physically and psycho-emotionally understand what difficulties adults sometimes face. And what exactly are they trying to warn their maturing offspring, who is floundering in his lake of pubertal maturation and awareness.
For children, their parents are always ideal, always unattainably correct. They can deal with anything from a simple scratch or loss of a surf mask to divorce and even death. And it is especially difficult for them to understand that adults are also vulnerable. That it can be difficult for them too, and they also have to cope with their own fears and sorrows that need to be hidden deep inside in order to remain “just a dad”.
And Calum, who is also in a state of deep and bitter depression, is amazed at how he managed to still live in a similar state to 30 years. But he can’t explain his depressing thoughts to the teenage girl who is Sophie. Also, she, unfortunately, will not be able to understand the state of depressive anxiety that covers her dad with a wave and makes her grow dark and hide in the darkness of the room.
She will not be able to understand this until she grows up herself and goes through the same fears and difficulties, 20 years later. These are the thoughts that will rage in Sophie’s mind as she looks through old film reels from 20 years ago. In that happy sunny summer at her moment, everything was different.
And now, on the eve of her 30th birthday, she will never be able to understand the lonely and difficult moment of Calum’s life. But during this period, dad will no longer, unfortunately, be around.
Explanation of the ending of the film “My Sunshine”
In the story at the end of the film, the vacation is over, and Sophie’s father takes Sophie back to the airport to put her on a plane on which she will fly back to her mother.
According to the film, this moment is shown as fragments of memories that are spinning in the head of an adult Sophie. Like a weaving of fragments of memorable events and unreal moments that she created herself in her head.
All the memories of dad, his loneliness, the bitterness in his eyes, his futile attempts to cope with temporary psychological difficulties on his own, and the funny summer moments of vacation in Turkey are mixed together.
Here she sees how they are going to the airport, he accompanies her to the exit, she waves to him. He looks sadly at Sophie, and then his image fades, turns pale, and mixes with the sunset twilight. In Sophie’s head, she sees clearly how he enters the doorway, and then the girl’s fantasy takes the two of them into an unreal space in which she placed herself and dad as an image.
In this hangar-like space, to the sounds of a loud rave, Calum dances through the crowd, gesticulating furiously, venting his emotions. He is trying to get out of the emotional depressive tangle of emotions, at least this is how adult Sophie sees the state of her father.
A young woman sadly realizes that, unfortunately, her childhood is over, that she will have to grow up, and her father is not around, and she will also have to deal with all the problems that surround her, just like her father. With all the complexities and with all the psychological demons. And then she, with sadness in her eyes, understands the state in which her dad was 20 years ago. And how difficult it was for him at that moment, in that sunny summer with a Turkish vacation. But, unfortunately, nothing can be returned, and nothing can be changed. Time is long gone…
