A bright edge in a film photograph can have a halo. One cause is halation: light passes through the light-sensitive layer, reflects back, and exposes nearby parts of that layer.
The glow records something about the material the light travelled through. An absorbing layer in the film can reduce those reflections and help keep the image sharp.
For a film-inspired edit, the question becomes: where would the light go? Imagine a small glow spilling just beyond a bright edge, with detail elsewhere preserved.