All Of Us Strangers
SEARCHLIGHTThe London skyline. Hundreds and hundreds of buildings, both tall and small, housing thousands upon thousands of people. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, yet also one filled with loneliness. These buildings are nothing more than fancy prison cells, separating one stranger from another, making them pass their days with no real change or hope in the future.
Inside one of these haunting apartment complexes lives Adam (Andrew Scott), a screenwriter who is struggling to come up with new ideas. A fire alarm leads to him meeting Harry (Paul Mescal), a charming yet drunk neighbour. Adam refuses his sexual advances, and he then reminisces on his childhood in the British suburbs. He goes out to his childhood home, where he mysteriously finds his parents, who died in a car accident when he was a boy, still young and alive.
All of Us Strangers is a film firmly steeped in fantasy, to the point that examining it through a literal lens is a futile and senseless exercise. In a way, what Andrew Haigh has written and directed (based on Taichi Yamada’s Strangers), can be seen as Adam’s screenplay come to life. All of Us Strangers is a gothic ghost story for the 21st century, not dissimilarly from Joanna Hogg’s moving and underrated The Eternal Daughter. Through the process of filmmaking, of creating art, the artist can resonate with their own grief and the one that unites all of us.
Andrew Haigh’s filmography is characterised by such deep tenderness and understanding of love and longing, and All of Us Strangers shows two sides of that. With the romantic relationship that he strikes with Harry, Adam gets a chance to be vulnerable and naked with another person, one of the most beautiful and important parts of sharing your body and soul with another person. Casting Mescal is a particularly inspired choice, as he balances sensuality and sensitivity with ease, making his quiet conversations with Scott ring oh so true.
On the other hand, there is the relationship between Adam and his parents, with Haigh himself likely drawing from personal experience in exploring familial love. After all, both the director and his fictional character grew up in England in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, right when Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister: amongst the various traumas that the Iron Lady caused to young and old generations, she introduced the infamous Section 28, which essentially rendered homosexuality of any kind illegal for over two decades (the brilliant indie Blue Jean, directed by Georgia Oakley, focuses on this dark period).
Not only was Adam victim of bullying due to his unwillingness to hide his sexuality identity, he also never got to fully come out to his parents. This is when All Of Us Strangers truly shines: every moment between Andrew Scott and his on-screen parents, Claire Foy and Jamie Bell, is an immensely cathartic experience. Finally getting to show himself for who he is, confronting them about what happened in his childhood, and ultimately not being able to let go of their newfound love again, is a truly emotionally heartbreaking journey. But this is where the power of the film lies, as the earnestness of the dialogue and the genuine, grounded performances become a gift for all the queers who never managed to be honest with their parents. A sequence featuring the Pet Shop Boys cover of “Always On My Mind” is a particularly touching and wholesome scene, and another example in how a form of art (in this case music) can help people freely express themselves.
The final minutes of All Of Us Strangers seem to be what makes or breaks the film. Confusion and even bafflement are understandable when taking the entirety of the film at face value, but on further reflection, it is clear what Andrew Haigh is saying with his nuanced characters and gentle, delicate direction: Adam once saw himself as singular, alone, one among thousands of faceless individuals, but through his processing of grief he learns to control and embrace his emotions. He finally sees himself for who he is: one of many bright stars, floating together in the cosmos, connected by the power of love. We are all strangers, going through the same yearnings and troubles in life, and that is what ultimately unites all of us as we make meaningful connections that shape us. And, as a popular Reddit post said years ago, we are a mosaic of everyone we have ever loved, even for a heartbeat.