All Of Us Strangers| Dir: Andrew Haigh | ★ ★ ★ ★ ½ 

There is nothing like dealing with death to highlight the important things in life.

Based on the 1987 novel Strangers by Taichi Yamada, writer/director Andrew Haigh has created an intimate ghost story that will haunt audiences with its emotional impact.

Adam (Andrew Scott) is a screenwriter writer who lives in an almost empty high-rise block of apartments in London. The only other occupant seems to be Harry (Paul Mescal) and, while Adam is struggling with his writing, the two begin a steamy affair.

At the same time, Adam seems to have discovered a portal where he can be with his parents who were killed in a car accident when he was 12 years old. After dwelling on old photographs, Adam returns to his childhood home, which is actually filmed in Haigh’s childhood home near London.

Adam discovers that his parents (Claire Foy and Jamie Bell) are living in the house, just as they had done thirty years previously. They are glad to see their son, who is now the same age as them, and needs come to terms with his loss and the things that were left unsaid before moving on with his life and his script.

There is nothing spooky or nostalgic about these scenes that dissolve the boundaries of time. Haigh has said that he purposefully mashed the past and the present together because he considers that is how memories work. “Memories can suddenly appear to you in the present even if they’re from 20, 30 or 40 years back.”

Adam’s mother acknowledges, in a matter-of-a-fact way, that they don’t know how long the opportunity for Adam to be part of his past will last. While his parents help him to better understand himself, Harry looks after Adam in the present and shows him he is capable of being loved.

Described as beautiful until the bitter end, there are so many layers to be peeled away in this haunting film about love and loss, heartbreak and healing.

Lezly Herbert

You can support our work by subscribing to our Patreon
or contributing to our GoFundMe campaign.