All of Us Strangers

There is often a certain melancholy to ghost movies—even when they are at their most terrifying, they often rely on themes of past trauma, grief, and other forms of reconciliation. Those themes cross over again in Andrew Haigh’s fourth feature, All of Us Strangers. A somber and affecting story about a man seeking closure from his diseased parents in the spiritual realm—in many different forms—the lead performance by Andrew Scott is perhaps Haigh’s most vulnerable character he has even created, having created such outstanding films as 2018’s Lean on Pete, 2015’s 45 Years, and the 2012 gay drama Weekend. Like those other films, Scott plays a broken protagonist, but this time around his character is given a supernatural realm that has a mix of supernatural drama and character study that’s also elliptical and sensory in tone, and it will probably be considered Haigh’s most commercial film of his career.

Apart from a handful of romantic comedies (such as Bros. and Fireland), modern mainstream gay cinema seldom ventures into the supernatural. While there was Knock at the Cabin earlier this year by M. Night Shyamalan, that film didn’t quite touch on LGBTQ issues, as All of Us Strangers does explore issues of repression and acceptance with its ghost story that Haigh also wrote that is based on the 1987 Japanese best-selling novel titled Strangers by Taichi Yamada. Haigh doesn’t use genre-movie standards, conventional thrills, or even any ominous score or atmosphere to build up a genre movie. The film has more in common with Olivier Assaya’s Personal Shopper or the 1990 film Ghost than it does with any other ghost films. In other words, the ghosts move the narrative forward with the dramatic and emotional weight of the acting and writing that still keep the film haunting.

Courtesy Searchlight Pictures

At first glance, Scott’s character, Adam, seems to be isolated. He clearly holds some emotional wounds, and he resides in a mostly empty apartment complex in London. His only neighbor is Harry (Paul Mescal), and they both have flirty exchanges on the elevator, but Adam keeps his distance from Harry’s very forward flirtations. Eventually, they get to know each other more and become partners at night. You can sense Adam is more gated about his sexuality, while Harry is more extroverted about it. They often only hang out alone in the apartment. The, but they occasionally venture out for a dance and drink. The apartment serves as a dreamlike purgatory, and Haigh, along with cinematographer Jamie D. Ramsay, expertly stage the scenes with confined spaces and atmospheric visuals that feel both catastrophic and suffocating to reflect Adam’s inner turmoil. An effect I think Haigh should have dived deeper into that could have actually ventured into some Bergman terrain, but it ends up feeling restraint and doesn’t quite take enough chances that the story builds up for.

During the day, Adam visits his old-fashioned home, where he used to reside as a child with his parents. Adam’s mother (Claire Foy) and his father (Jamie Bell) appear as ghosts, and they look even younger than Adam. That is because they both died in a tragic automobile accident when Adam was just a young boy, and Adam keeps them up to date about what they have missed out on ever since. Yet Adam still struggles to open up about his love life and sexuality to his parents. When he does come out to them, we get their homophobic reactions, which would be identical to how they would react in the 90s had she lived. When Harry begins inquiring where Adam ventures out in the day, we begin to learn that these visits are past memories, anxieties, and delusions that have carried on from Adam’s childhood well into his adulthood.

Courtesy Searchlight

The ghost story element works more as a memory for Adam to not only come to terms with his own grief but to vicariously imagine them as ghosts to gauge how their regular feelings would react and reflect on his true self. It becomes muddled for Adam, who can’t reconcile his past or move on because, in order for him to enjoy his moment, he longs for the closure and amends he would hopefully have gotten if we were alive. The performances by both Foy and Bell are very compelling but reserved with their traditional manners, but you can sense they were loving parents that would have supported their son’s lifestyle. That is what makes the film so melancholic and equally contemplative.

When Harry learns more about Adam’s visits, he is perplexed and even questions Adam’s sanity. He agrees to visit the home, and of course his parents don’t appear. It’s there where we learn that this entire story is from Adam’s own perspective; we are in his psyche, and there are a lot of conflicting emotions that aren’t easy to discern. Haigh does a commanding job of maintaining the genuine emotions in the film, even when it slips into the mawkish. The encounters between Adam and his parents remain intriguing and moving.

Courtesy Searchlight 

These encounters give a rich insight into what we would have gotten if Adam’s parents hadn’t died. They draw compelling portraits of the torment that populates Adam’s memories. Haigh does a superb job of adapting the material. He brings a personal touch that has been on display since his debut feature, Weekend, and for the last decade or so, he has proved to be a skilled storyteller at exploring relationships, which was so evident in “45 Years” as well. Haigh achieves a lot of poignancy here in his delicate perspective on the afterlife, thanks to the measured performances from his thoughtful cast, delicate direction, and magnetic romance that holds together well and pivots the film away from slipping into cloying sentimentality.

All of Us Strangers opens in limited theaters Friday, December 22nd, 2023, and expands on January 5th, 2024