'All of Us Strangers’ REVIEW: Not just a ghost/love story
‘All of Us Strangers’ REVIEW: Not just a ghost/love story
Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal star in this ghostly love story.
“Gay? As in homosexual?” Yes, yes, and yes. Andrew Haigh’s latest drama is his take on Taichi Yamada’s novel Strangers, making it more personal, modern, and queer. The film stars Andrew Scott as Adam, a middle-aged screenwriter orphaned at 12. It’s been quite some time, yet he still hasn’t recovered from the death of his parents. All of Us Strangers tackles the long and winding road of grief but focuses more on its first stage—denial.
Now is it a love story? Indeed, Harry (Paul Mescal) comes onto Adam’s doorstep and the two hit it off after some not-so-subtle flirting. There is also steaming hot sex, but that’s beyond the point. It’s also a romance in that Adam tries to retrace his childhood days when his parents were still alive. The love that he has for his parents knows no bounds; not even death can make him forget. This, however, made him overlook another important facet of love: that is, it should start from within.
Claire Foy and Jamie Bell as Adam’s parents.
All of Us Strangers is more than just a ghost story. It begs the question, “What would I tell my parents if we were around the same age?” Or in Adam’s situation, if they were still alive. The natural response is to ask for some advice. Adam, never having the chance to come out, does so to the surprise of both his parents. As he imagines, his mother (Claire Foy) responds in disbelief which plays like a funny scene. Contrary to this, his father (Jamie Bell) embraces him in a warm hug, with Adam weeping as he lets out his frustrations about growing up gay and fatherless.
And as Adam dwells in his loss, the movie finds its jewel. It’s no use shouting the painful reality when people only want to see what they want to see. A stolen Christmas, lonely celebrations, no “meet the parents” moment with your partner, no one to run to when you get nightmares, and no one to cry to when life feels like it’s pushing a rock down your throat. Adam was a boy then; now, he’s a man, and God forbid men wish to be children again.
He goes back to his childhood home, which is actually Haigh’s childhood home, and stays there. Even just for a while. Talking to his parents is him making sense of everything that has happened. Even when his own subconscious tells him to move on, he doesn’t. He just can’t, and sweet Harry can’t do anything about it. Partying drowns out the noise for a while, but the quiet can’t escape his apartment which brings him back to the suburbs. Patsy Cline’s “If I Could See the World” plays and catches us up with Adam who’s living through the eyes of a child.
The two Irish leads give incredible performances with a chemistry so captivating on screen.
Haigh does a wonderful thing in All of Us Strangers, intertwining mourning with accepting oneself. It is impossible for Adam to move forward if he can’t embrace what he has become. He is his own ghost, a stranger even to himself. The film hints at this multiple times through the use of reflections, where Adam can be seen gazing upon himself in different windows, trying to remember who he was before the accident and who he is now years after.
Adam’s story teaches us that maybe it won’t get better soon, and that’s okay. Life cannot be rainbows all the time; there is always fire—raging fire—and it will hurt. As gay people, we are taught from the first time we come out that the world is a dangerous place for everyone, but even more so for us. There’s the fear of growing old alone, with the possibility of marriage and kids out the window. There’s even the illness scare of not getting past the age of 30. There’s the denial of the harsh truths, anger towards the world that kills, endless bargaining for another parallel universe where you’re not gay, going deep into a depression, to finally, introspection, to self-love and acceptance. They’re no longer here, and you’re gay; nothing’s gonna change.
Looking for answers from strangers, people who know zilch about him but feel like they’ve known him his whole life. And maybe he does find himself. Not in his parents, no, they’re too distant from the contemporary world. In Harry, maybe, for they share an intimate bond and have confided in each other. But I believe that he found himself in his craft; no one knows better about him than himself. Word per word, he escapes into this dreamlike landscape where life never wrongs him and he gets to have a perfect run at love. He uses Harry and his parents so that his art breathes life into him and vice versa.
Whether it’s all just a concocted screenplay or a tragic love affair, All of Us Strangers is a hymn for the lonesome, a saving grace that comes knocking at your door in the middle of the night. It embraces the quiet as with Haigh’s previous entries, yet thrives in the noise as well. As with grief, there’s a semblance of acceptance toward the ending, despite how hard it bites.
All of Us Strangers is part of the ‘Screen International’ section of the ongoing QCinema film festival. Catch the last screening of the film on November 24, 2023.
