Andrew Haigh’s spectacular career sees another entry with the buzz surrounding his latest film All of Us Strangers. The horror story masquerading as a touching romance between two lost queer souls is an adaptation of Taichi Yamada’s Strangers. It first premiered at the 50th Telluride Film Festival alongside Jeff Nichol’s The Bikeriders. The feature stars Andrew Scott’s enchanting performance opposite Paul Mescal’s haunting presence. Jamie Bell and Claire Foy also support the two in delivering this modern-day gothic tale. A mind-bending love story, the film explores loneliness and stagnation in the metropolitan city of London, working through past traumas, age regression, and intense coping mechanisms that warp realities. All of Us Strangers has made appearances in several other festivals including London Film Festival and Belfast Film Festival.
All of Us Strangers follows Adam, a TV scriptwriter living by himself in busy London. He meets the mysterious Harry, the only other tenant living in their big apartment complex building. The two form a romantic and physical connection. All the while, memories of his deceased parents haunts Adam. He keeps coming back to the old house he grew up in. There, he sees a life he could’ve had with them around. As desires and fiction starts to slip into reality, Adam finds himself almost confused and regressed, seeking comfort both in the ghosts of his parents’ memories and his blossoming feelings for Harry. One striking aspect of Haigh’s film is its small cast. With only six names to its credits, all four main characters have sufficient depth and exploration to make the complex storyline work.
The actors themselves are outstanding. Scott in particular is listlessly convincing as Adam – the central focus of the film. Everything the audience sees and experiences is through the eyes of Adam. Scott gives this very important character a very fragile and delicate texture. But there’s also a sort of assertiveness and security within himself as an individual who has survived something traumatic. With such a strong foundation in Scott, all other actors fall seamlessly into place around him. Mescal’s Harry is enchanting as well. He’s mysterious, alluring, and always so eye-catching in every scene. He’s vulnerable and shy in all the right parts, but strong enough to support Adam as he breaks apart at the seams.
A visual staple within the picture is the use of symmetry. Haigh exhibits this through several different cinematographic techniques. First is through center-framing of the camera. There’s a heavy emphasis on Adam as the center focus of most shots involving his mother and father. Whenever he’s faced with his mother and father, Adam is usually on the other side or across the table from the two of them. Sometimes, he’s even aptly placed in the middle. This alludes to him as the sole survivor of the tragedy and further elucidates how Adam is alone in the world. It’s also a hint to his status as an outsider – a sort of voyeurism. These are ghosts of his parents’ past and he, alive and well in the present, does not fit in with them.
The other form of symmetry is through the abundance of reflective shots using mirrors and windows. This method is especially prominent in scenes within the elevator and the train. Again, this is a nod to the divide between the reality Adam is experiencing and memories of the past resurfacing. It’s this multiplicity of the hysteria surrounding him. They’re almost like gateways into what’s real and what Adam is imagining. It also helps that most of these are warped and distorted reflections. They act as allusions to Adam constantly bending reality to align with old memories of his parents. These visual cues heavily support a script that is overindulgent in the act of writing.
Adam’s job being a scriptwriter is only the cherry on top. Even as a teenager and into his early twenties, he made up stories of what his life would be like with his parents around. He has detailed accounts of what they would do on specific days and events. As he goes to visit the old family home, he only gives way to these fantasies and starts living in them. Suppose it’s true what the film says: “Writers know less about the real world than anybody else”. Other script highlights include the subtle comedic moments around LGBTQ+ topics. They’re like little snippets of their experiences, the universal feelings shared among queer identities. That being said, it doesn’t shy away from touching on the difference in LGBTQ+ treatment back then to now. It’s open and honest, humorous without being condescending.
Overall, All of Us Strangers is more horror than it is romance. It’s a dissection of loneliness and starvation for that human connection. Haigh explores how people cope through illusions of the past, and the haunting question of “what if”. What if things were different; what if that never happened? It’s that question of what might have been done differently when you know better of the consequences. This is a perfectly befitting story to review for a publication such as Unrequited Scene.
That’s our thoughts on All of Us Strangers by Andrew Haigh at the Belfast Film Festival. With the year closing and onward to 2024, we inch closer to the official release date of All of Us Strangers. Are you excited for it? Have you seen any of Haigh’s other films? Tell us all about it on our Instagram or Twitter! Read our last festival coverage, The Bikeriders Starring Tom Hardy, Austin Butler, Jodie Comer and Mike Faist @ London Film Festival.
