After (2019) – A Steamy Teen Romance That Misses the Mark
Released in 2019 and based on Anna Todd’s bestselling Wattpad novel, After arrived with immense anticipation among its devoted fanbase. With the promise of an emotionally charged, steamy romance between a “good girl” and a “bad boy,” the film aimed to deliver the same rollercoaster of feelings that propelled the original book to fame. However, while After captures the angst and chemistry that draws in its young adult audience, it ultimately fails to rise above its genre clichés and stumbles in its portrayal of healthy romantic dynamics.
Plot Overview: A Familiar Blueprint
The film follows Tessa Young (Josephine Langford), a sheltered, straight-laced college freshman with a picture-perfect life: she has a loving boyfriend back home, a doting (though controlling) mother, and a clear vision of her future. But things take a dramatic turn when she meets Hardin Scott (Hero Fiennes Tiffin)—a brooding, tattooed, British literature-loving bad boy with a dark past and a rebellious streak.
As their paths continue to collide, Tessa is drawn into Hardin’s world, and what begins as a hostile, opposites-attract dynamic quickly morphs into a whirlwind romance. The central conflict stems from their clashing personalities, past traumas, and a looming secret that threatens to unravel everything.
It’s a narrative we’ve seen before—good girl meets bad boy, falls in love, faces betrayal, grows from the experience—but After attempts to blend literary allusions and emotional intensity to elevate the familiar formula.
Casting and Performances: Chemistry vs. Character
Josephine Langford delivers a grounded and often earnest performance as Tessa. She manages to convey the inner conflict of a young woman caught between who she’s been told to be and who she wants to become. Her portrayal adds some much-needed nuance to a character that often lacks agency in the script.
Hero Fiennes Tiffin, as Hardin, brings a magnetic presence to the screen. His sultry stare and withdrawn demeanor capture the essence of the tortured love interest archetype, and he handles his emotional scenes with restraint. However, the script limits his ability to fully flesh out Hardin beyond the clichés. Viewers are left wanting more depth and less brooding silence.
Together, Langford and Fiennes Tiffin share strong on-screen chemistry. It’s easy to see why young audiences are drawn to their tension-filled moments and intimate scenes. Yet this chemistry is also what masks the film’s deeper flaws.
Direction and Cinematography: Aesthetic Over Substance
Directed by Jenny Gage, After attempts to bring visual sophistication to a teen romance. The cinematography, helmed by Adam Silver, is lush and dreamlike. Soft lighting, close-ups, and romantic color grading enhance the mood, especially during the more intimate moments. The film is visually polished and often feels like a music video, with emotionally driven montages and sweeping shots of campus life.
However, this emphasis on aesthetics sometimes undermines narrative clarity. Key moments are brushed over quickly in favor of extended eye contact, slow-motion shots, or melodramatic silence. The storytelling suffers from this imbalance, as it lacks the emotional weight and context needed to make the central romance believable and impactful.
Screenplay and Dialogue: Surface-Level Emotion
Adapted by Susan McMartin and Tamara Chestna, the screenplay struggles to find a voice distinct from its source material. While the novel’s first-person narration allows readers to understand Tessa’s internal thoughts, the film lacks that intimacy. As a result, Tessa’s motivations feel murky, and her rapid transformation from conservative academic to risk-taking romantic feels rushed and unearned.
Dialogue, though occasionally sweet, often veers into cringeworthy or overly dramatic territory. Lines like “You’re not my type” and “You were my dare” don’t land with the emotional punch they intend and instead highlight the screenplay’s weakness in building genuine emotional resonance.
Moreover, the film fails to deeply explore important themes like identity, independence, and trust. These elements exist but are only scratched on the surface, leaving the characters underdeveloped and their relationship arc incomplete.
Themes and Problematic Tropes
The most polarizing aspect of After lies in its romantic dynamic. Hardin and Tessa’s relationship is portrayed as passionate and transformative, but it’s also rife with emotional manipulation, possessiveness, and questionable power dynamics. What some see as “intense romance,” others view as red flags.
Hardin’s behavior often mirrors that of a controlling partner: he invades Tessa’s privacy, displays aggressive jealousy, and oscillates between affection and cruelty. These actions are seldom questioned by the narrative and are instead romanticized as signs of emotional depth or trauma. This portrayal risks sending the wrong message to young viewers about what love should look like.
Furthermore, the plot twist—that Hardin pursued Tessa as part of a cruel dare—serves as a betrayal that is never fully unpacked. The film glosses over the emotional damage this would realistically cause and instead leans into the trope of “love conquers all,” even at the expense of personal boundaries and trust.
Soundtrack: Emotionally On Point
One of the film’s strengths is its soundtrack, featuring artists like Billie Eilish, The Fray, and Kehlani. The music choices are perfectly curated to match the mood of each scene—ethereal, melancholy, and emotionally charged.
The songs often do the heavy emotional lifting where the dialogue falls short. In moments where words fail to evoke sincerity, the music bridges the gap. It’s clear that the filmmakers leaned heavily on auditory cues to reinforce the romantic atmosphere, and in this regard, they succeed.
Audience Reception: Divisive Yet Devoted
After received mixed to negative reviews from critics, many of whom criticized its weak narrative structure, shallow character development, and toxic romantic ideals. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a low critic score, though it fared better with audiences, especially fans of the book.
The film found success primarily through its fanbase, many of whom are loyal followers of Anna Todd’s original Wattpad series. For them, After is not just a story—it’s an emotional experience tied to nostalgia, personal fantasy, and fan culture. The film’s ability to resonate with this specific audience explains its commercial success and the spawning of multiple sequels.
However, for viewers unfamiliar with the books or less forgiving of its flaws, After can feel like a romantic drama that’s both outdated and misguided.
Comparison to Source Material: A Toned-Down Adaptation
The original After novel was infamous for its explicit content and controversial representation of love. The film tones down much of the sexual content to secure a PG-13 rating, which some fans saw as a necessary compromise, while others felt it diluted the raw intensity that made the book so popular.
The adaptation also trims subplots and characters for brevity, which impacts pacing and character depth. Fans of the novel may appreciate seeing key scenes brought to life, but casual viewers are likely to find the film lacking in substance.
Final Verdict: A Missed Opportunity with Surface Appeal
After (2019) is a film that knows its audience and delivers on the surface-level thrills they crave: attractive leads, steamy moments, emotional highs and lows, and aesthetic visuals. For fans of romantic melodrama, the film offers a comforting (if flawed) fantasy.
However, from a critical standpoint, After falls short in too many key areas. It fails to build a convincing emotional arc, avoids meaningful exploration of its characters, and romanticizes behaviors that should be questioned. What could have been a powerful coming-of-age story about love, identity, and self-discovery ends up being a visually stylish but emotionally hollow tale.
Despite its shortcomings, After remains a cultural phenomenon among its niche audience, sparking debate and drawing attention to the evolving landscape of YA adaptations. In the end, After (2019) is not without merit—but it’s also not without consequence.
