After We Fell Parent Guide

After two episodes of personal conflict and steamy romance, part three of the After film series is driven by a fairly bland plot development. Tessa (Josephine Langford) has received job offer in Seattle. Her summer job went so well that her employer wants her to relocate and will provide housing and help transferring her university program. (The likelihood of an undergraduate being such a valuable employee is, of course, not questioned.) Tessa is thrilled and assumes that Hardin (Hero Fiennes Tiffin) will be happy to join her. Angry that she made this decision without consulting him, Hardin withdraws into his usual petulance, which lasts for most of the movie’s runtime. Throw in several breathy sexual episodes, and some shocking family secrets, and that’s basically the entire film.

There is no compelling reason to watch this movie. The plot is uninteresting and Hero Fiennes Tiffin’s acting is still limited to sulking, brooding, and getting angry. Even Josephine Langford’s brightness has dimmed and she now seems shadowed and weary. Frankly, that’s probably how viewers will feel after paying for this soapy little film.

In addition to saving your hard-earned money, there are plenty of other reasons to avoid this cinematic sludge. The first is the amped up toxic relationship messages. Tessa and Hardin’s relationship is blighted by sarcasm, secret keeping, contempt, blame, angry outbursts, selfishness, and a habit of expecting the worst of each other. In a new and disturbing twist, Hardin also credits himself for Tessa’s job offer and discounts any possibility that she actually earned the job on her own merits. Worst of all is the theme that has spanned the series: Tessa is the only person who can save Hardin from his inner demons so she should stay with him despite her suffering. The last thing the young women watching this movie need is reinforcement of long-held cultural assumptions that so often keep women trapped in abusive relationships.

Acknowledging the anguish she feels in her interactions with Hardin, Tessa writes that she’s only free of pain in the throes of passion. And, boy, do we ever see that passion in full color. As with its predecessors, After We Fell serves as little more than a plot vehicle for soft-focus sex scenes. Tessa and Hardin have sex in bed, sex in a hot tub (with parents potentially returning soon), sex in a home gym, and they see another couple having sex on a kitchen counter. There is no explicit nudity, but the sex scenes are extremely lengthy and feature passionate kissing, removal of clothing, embracing, and extended shots of writhing, moaning, panting, and thrusting. One of the sex scenes occurs without contraception and Tessa buys a morning after pill to prevent pregnancy. The hot tub scene involves a type of sexual activity we can’t describe on a family website, but all I could think of was bacteria (better up the chlorine in that jacuzzi, pronto). There’s also a scene of phone sex with implied masturbation.

I’ll be clear, After We Fell isn’t porn, but it certainly qualifies as bad erotica. However you categorize it, it’s not suitable for teens. And frankly, I can’t imagine any adult wanting to sit through this glorification of unhealthy relationships – not to mention Mr. Tiffin’s tedious portrayal of a profoundly unpleasant leading man. There is no upside here. The story just falls flat and the chances of it rising in the fourth and (thankfully) final instalment are slim and none.