Why does the main character in critically-acclaimed movie Aftersun wear a Hearts strip?

Aftersun is in movie theatres now and one half of the Edinburgh football divide will be pretty pleased with a costume choice in the motion picture.

Main character Sophie – played by breakthrough young actor Frankie Corio – on more than one occasion can be seen sporting a Hearts top from season 1998/99 during the film’s one-hour, 36-minute runtime.

Along with Paul Mescal (coincidentally named Calum Paterson), the two lead actors play a father and daughter from Edinburgh (South Queensferry, to be precise, in Sophie’s case) who are on package holiday in Turkey. The drama shifts between the present day and the end of the previous millennium as adult Sophie watches old home movies and reminisces about the relationship with her troubled dad.

The critically-acclaimed hit is the debut feature from writer and director Charlotte Wells who was born and raised in Edinburgh before emigrating to the United States to further her career.

As a result, a Hearts strip seems like an obvious choice to put on a soon-to-be 11-year-old child finding her path into adulthood. However, as Wells told The Herald, it could have been a very different selection for Corio.

“My mum’s side of the family are Hibs fans, my dad’s side are Hearts fans,” she said. “The original intentional had probably been that it was a Hibs shirt, to be honest, but that maroon is a nicer colour and that was the shirt I could get my hands on. A close friend from school’s sister had a drawer filled with old Hearts shirts and her dad posted one to me. It was perfect.”

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