Grief is a peculiar emotion, and it hits people most bizarrely. People around us deal with grief in their own ways, and there needs to be no judgment passed based on how people deal with pain, which usually follows the loss of a loved one. Afterlife on Netflix is one of the few shows on OTT spaces that discusses how people deal with a personal tragedy. A Part of You, a Swedish Netflix original directed by Sigge Eklund, is about a young girl dealing with personal tragedy. This Netflix original is set to release on May 30th on the streaming platform.
Spoilers Ahead
What happened to Julia Svan?
Julia Svan was the older daughter of a single mother, Carina. She was the popular school senior, and her younger sister Agnes was not very keen on being like her older sibling. Agnes was constantly amazed by the kind of life Julia led, and she was jealous of it. Julia, however, was supportive of the acting career Agnes wanted to pursue and the school play she wanted to be a part of. On the eve of Agnes’ birthday, Julia wanted to hang out at a party at her friend’s home. Despite their mother’s apprehension, Julia, her boyfriend Noel, and Agnes spent the eve of her birthday at the party. While Julia was having a good time spending time with her friends, she eventually got drunk. A drunk Julia drove away in Noel’s car while crying, only to get into an accident. The doctor declared her dead after surgery, which shocked Agnes and their mother, Carina.
How did Agnes deal with the tragedy?
Agnes was in shock at having lost her sister so suddenly, and she never gave herself time to process it. She was anyway known to have been an introverted girl at school, which was the opposite of how Julia was. Right before the accident, Agnes had received an email from the drama teacher about her acceptance into the school play. Agnes decided to be a part of the play instead of dealing with the grief. Her drama teacher had asked her to consider not being a part of the play out of her shared experience of losing a sibling to a car accident. Agnes was in no mood to discuss her pain and chose to ignore his suggestion.
Agnes’ manner of dealing with Julia’s loss was to wear her clothes. This began to freak Julia’s friends out, but they never found a way to address the elephant in the room, which is Agnes suddenly going through such changes. She also began to ask questions about Julia and how she behaved while drunk, which irked her friend Lydia.
Was Agnes alone at home?
Agnes was also alone because her mother chose to move to her grandmother’s home to deal with Julia’s death. It felt like the wrong move, as the family needed to grieve the loss together. Agnes was not upset by her mother not being around, and this took her further down the rabbit hole of pain. gnes, however, refused to speak with Noel, even though he tried to converse with her about the night of the accident. Her brief interaction with Noel caused a major breakdown, thankfully not in front of her peers from school. Noel was being all protective of Agnes, even though she had not asked for it. Just like Julia, Agnes had begun to drink alcohol, and Noel followed her home in the hope she would reach home safely.
Why did Agnes choose to be a part of the play?
Agnes’ rehearsal for the play had begun, and there was already an air of awkwardness since she was the pupil who had lost her sister to an accident. However, that did not stop her from attending the rehearsals and learning her lines. Initially, the drama teacher was happy with the way Agnes was able to enunciate and express her pain through the lines. Soon the pressure of the grief had started to take a toll on Agnes, and it showed up during one of the rehearsals. The drama teacher eventually had to ask her to leave, only for her to behave passive-aggressively.
Did Noel and Agnes fall in love?
Noel and Agnes, on the other hand, had begun to hang out with each other. Both reached out to each other, and since Agnes was alone at home, the meeting was not that difficult. They began to cook, converse, and go on cycle rides together, and this was the start of their friendship. Agnes did have a crush on him, and Noel, on the other hand, was trying to find someone to talk to. Rebuilding a bond with Agnes was not that hard, even though she had initially broken down on the topic of the night Julia died. Both began to feel drawn to each other and ended up making love. However, Noel felt guilty about the turn of events, and he had to move away from her immediately. There was love between them, but the overwhelming guilt took over, and Noel needed some time away.
Why was Agnes angry at the party?
Agnes had attended another party wearing her sisters’ clothes and make-up. Carina was back by then, and she was horrified to witness Agnes trying to imitate her sister. Carina had tried to stop her from attending the party, but Agnes was adamant about heading out. Agnes began to make most of Julia’s friends angry. Lydia and Esther specifically were not very happy with the way Agnes behaved and tried to give her a reality check. Agnes and Noel had a falling out over the former’s confession about feeling guilty for what happened on the night Julia died in the accident. Noel carried the guilt of letting a drunk Julia drive the car.
Noel had had no one to talk to about what led to the accident. Agnes began to accuse him of causing Julia’s death, which further led to a divide between them. Agnes was a witness to Julia driving away in Noel’s car, and since she had been upset, she needed to blame someone for the immense trauma she was suffering. They were bound to fall out with each other, as both refused to handle the loss of a loved one in the right manner.
Agnes was also confronted by Esther, Julia’s friend, who accused her of not visiting her grave ever since her passing. Agnes and Esther’s fallout was a long time coming, as the former had freaked the latter out by behaving like Julia. Agnes probably wanted to fill the void left by Julia, which could have been the reason behind her imitating her only sister. She also probably wanted to experience what it was like to be Julia, who was a popular figure amongst her friends at the school.
What did she learn from Julia’s phone?
An upset Agnes entered Julia’s room and caused mayhem in it out of rage. Agnes finally had the breakdown moment that involved her crying just out of sheer grief and pain. During her raging episode, she came across the bag of items given by the hospital to her family post-Julia’s death, and one of them had Julia’s phone. She came across several texts her mother had sent to Julia’s phone after her death, stating she missed her. Carina, as a mother, was the most affected by the untimely death of Julia. She kept messaging Julia’s number because that was the only way for her to remember her daughter.
Agnes also found out her sister was dealing with some mental health issues. It was implied that Julia had had depression. Mentally, she was in a lot of pain, and she conveyed the same to her mother via texts. This indicates that, despite being a popular girl in the school, Julia was mentally in a bad place. It was implied that Julia was on medication, but her texts with her mother indicated that it wasn’t helping her. Carina and Julia purposely kept the news away from Agnes because they didn’t want the young girl to be upset as well. The last text sent by Julia implied that her life was not worth the pain she was enduring.
A shocked Agnes could not control her tears anymore, as she believed Julia may have killed herself. Agnes was jealous of her sister all this time, but she was upset about the fact that her sister faced a lot of internal pain that she could not get rid of, and she could do nothing to help her. Carina kept pacifying her younger daughter about it and convinced Agnes that they would never know if Julia killed herself or if it was just an accident. They would have to live with the fact that Julia wasn’t around anymore, and life would never give them closure.
Did Agnes come to terms with Julia’s death?
Agnes slowly picked up all the pieces of the tragedy she, her mother, and Noel faced and decided to move on instead of getting stuck in the memory of losing Julia. Agnes decided to make amends with herself and Julia’s friends. Since she was a part of the play, she began to involve herself in it a lot more than she did before. Agnes was under the impression that Julia would have wanted them to move on as well. Agnes visited Julia’s grave to finally accept that she would not be coming back and made peace with her passing. Her friendship with Esther and Lydia was important, and she made sure to make amends with them. Agnes knew she had upset many people for a brief period, and working on her friendship was also a way to move on. On the day of the play, she was able to deliver an emotional performance in which her monologue was about following someone onto hot coals.
The monologue implied that her sister was walking on hot coals, symbolizing her bad mental health status. Agnes had hoped that if only she had known about Julia’s mind going through turmoil, she would have walked on the hot coals with her sister and helped her get to the other side. Her dialogue in the play was very much like the life experience she had in the past few months, and since she was on the cusp of moving on, the dialogues somehow helped her come to terms with the pain Julia went through. Agnes acknowledged the pain at last. The movie ended with Agnes being happy about her life from here on and hoping life would be smooth sailing, if not very dodgy. Agnes had people around her to help her remain happy. Life would not be easy without Julia, but she would have to deal with the loss.
