Directed by: Aleem Khan
Staring: Joanna Scanlan, Nathalie Richard & Talid Ariss
Aleem Khan’s film After Life is a restrained, psychological probing debut which follows a white Muslim woman on the trail of her husband’s secret life. Following the unexpected death of her husband, Mary (Joanna Scalan) pieces together the separate lives of her late husband, a ferry captain who worked between the ports of Dover and Calais, after finding the identity card of a French woman and some intimate messages on his phone. Her curiosity and her grief take her across the Channel where her husband’s double life emerges. Khan’s debut confidently blends old-school melodrama with a contemporary political consciousness. It is a beautiful but devastating exploration of love, loss, grief and identity.