‘Tuesday’: Charlotte Wells’ first student film
Charlotte Wells has only directed one feature film so far, but she’s already taking the world by storm. After her incredible debut Aftersun, film fans around the world are eagerly waiting to see what Wells comes up with next. Since she’s just at the beginning of what already looks like an incredibly promising career, Welles is definitely capable of reaching unprecedented artistic heights.
While Wells had always maintained an interest in the cinematic medium, she studied classical literature and eventually started working in finance. She initially applied to New York University to become a film producer but ended up discovering the magic of filmmaking. During her time there, Wells directed multiple student films, but the one that caught my attention was her first project – Tuesday.
A short that Wells made in 2015, Tuesday follows a sixteen-year-old named Allie who goes about her day. Engaging in awkward interactions with her friends and family, Allie is determined to finish off the first half of her day and spend the evening in her dad’s home. However, the reality of the situation is determined by a delicate balance between denial and pain.
During a conversation with Film Companion, Wells opened up about Tuesday and actually called it a companion piece to Aftersun. Of course, Aftersun is a much more polished project, but it highlights the same central thread of a complex relationship between a father and his daughter. Within the ten-minute runtime of Tuesday, Wells actually finds innovative ways to pull off narrative exposition.
Wells explained: “There were a couple of different ones. My first short film, Tuesday was in the same world, just expressing the same feeling of grief. And I think I realised once I had finished that, that I still had more to say. It was toward the end of film school, and I was thinking a little bit more consciously about what this feature was. I was flipping through holiday albums and was struck by how young my dad looked on the holidays that I was with him. I was approaching the age he was.”
The filmmaker added: “When you’re a kid, you confine the adults in your life to the role that they perform for you, and it’s really hard to see them aside from that. As the memory framing of the film came in, it became an opportunity to reflect on that and to reevaluate an experience from a new point of view. I was thinking about what that experience was like for him as well.”
If you’ve seen Aftersun, you already know it was one of the best movies of 2022. That’s exactly why Tuesday should be seen as essential work by Wells as well, showcasing some of the cinematic strengths of one of the most exciting directors in recent memory.
Watch the film below.
