There's a certain kind of "what if?" story that the film medium is uniquely suited for. "All of Us Strangers," written and directed by Andrew Haigh, presents the audience with a particularly heartbreaking one. What if a man could walk into his childhood home, and meet his long-deceased parents as he remembers them from when he was young? What if he could hash out all the lingering questions and worries he's had about his life since their separation, and maybe get some closure too?
Adam (Andrew Scott) is a lonely gay man living in London, who is at the center of this particular fantasy. His parents (Jamie Bell and Claire Foy) died in an accident when he was eleven, but Adam finds them completely unaged and reacting as though he was simply visiting them after a long absence. They want to know all about what he's been up to, so over a series of visits, he tells them. Simultaneously, Adam falls in love with a neighbor named Harry (Paul Mescal), and we watch as their relationship progresses. However, when Adam tries to introduce Harry to his parents, everything begins to unravel.
Certain viewers will inevitably get themselves tangled up in knots trying to figure out how the rules of this universe work, which is completely beside the point. "All of Us Strangers" operates by dream logic, and it's hinted several times that many events in the film are only happening in Adam's mind, or perhaps are the subject of a story that he's writing. What's important is the emotional reality of the characters and how Haigh is able to capture a very specific but universal sense of regret and yearning through this metaphysical lens. Adam gets to relive parts of his past, address old issues that were never solved, and finally process some of the trauma that he's been carrying around for decades. He comes out to both of his parents individually, and the conversations go in some unexpected directions. The film is very small in scope, ultimately built on the four characters having soul-baring conversations and saying all the things they never got a chance to say. It's the purest form of wish fulfillment, and absolutely wrenching to see unfold.
Andrew Scott's performance makes the film possible, establishing its quiet, lovely sincerity from its opening frames. There are several scenes that would come across as ridiculous if poorly handled, such as Adam regressing back to childhood in some of the later interactions with his parents, which allows him to voice old fears. However, Scott is able to be so vulnerable and so completely present in the moment, you don't doubt for a second that we're seeing a deeply buried part of Adam's psyche resurfacing at last. There's always a danger in these metaphysically fluid stories of the characters being lost as the existential questions pile up. Here, fortunately, the emotional throughline remains clear and distinct the whole way through.
I've seen "All of Us Strangers" compared to "Petit Maman" because they use similar fantasy mechanisms to allow parents and children to meet on equal footing, but that's where the similarities end. "All of Us Strangers" is far darker, and the sex scenes and depictions of drug usage aside, it's very much about an adult's reckoning with the past. The mood is very nocturnal, very emotionally volatile, and it's also far more confrontational and raw in its depictions of Adam's grief. There are some elements, including the ending, that are a little gimmicky for my tastes, but they feel earned. I think it's not too much of a spoiler to say that there's some narrative trickery going on, but there's never a sense that the film is trying to be too clever. Instead, when the shoe finally drops, it just adds another reason for why Adam is on this journey of self-discovery in the first place.
I love it when films make impossible dreams literal, especially when they're stories that are as small scale and intimate as this. So many genre films are such outsize spectacles, when the best of them are often tiny ones like "All of Us Strangers," which boils down to a few people connecting and expressing their love for each other, while they still can. This is Andrew Haigh's third film in a row that I've absolutely adored, and he's definitely found a place on my list of favorite contemporary directors.
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