All of Us Strangers review: A devastating masterpiece

In the twelfth month of 2023, viewers would be forgiven for thinking that any movie worth watching had already passed. Then, in its final moments, director Andrew Haigh swings for the heartstrings with his latest movie All of Us Strangers, prying us away from whatever emotional stability we had left.

For the majority of the year, going big before going home – to watch it all again on streaming – has reigned supreme. Despite the turbulence, superhero epics with jaw-dropping VFX and endless celebrity cameos have made up an alarming amount of content, buddying up with video game adaptations and other tales that originate from a well-worn IP.

It should check out then, that the Davids in this scenario would bravely admit defeat against the cinematic Goliaths – if it wasn’t for the thunderous acclaim that Past Lives, Anatomy of a Fall, and now All of Us Strangers have received. Somewhere within us, there’s a sense of quietness that wants to hold space for a simplistic narrative, stripping back the emotional layers until we are left in pieces.

In short, that’s exactly what All of Us Strangers achieves. Using a number of locations you can count on one hand, 4 characters, and a lot of inner pain, Andrew Haigh digs effortlessly deep to question what life might have been like in a separate set of circumstances, and why grief is the ultimate vampire waiting outside your door.

Grief as an act of refusal

In hindsight of watching Haigh’s latest creation, both its prowess and aftertaste are nothing short of exceptional. It’s almost difficult to wrap your head around not only the enormity of what you’ve just seen but also how it’s been effectively distilled into a tangible and recognizable storyline. Adam (Andrew Scott) lives alone in a block of new-build flats, where he is trying to write a script about his parents. Having been killed when he was a young boy, he is suddenly inspired to visit his childhood home, where he finds his parents exactly how he left them.

At the same time, Adam strikes up a relationship with Harry (Paul Mescal), who lives a few floors below. The result is a mental concoction that sends Adam to the brink, distorting his perceptions of what is real and what is imagination. Just as fluidly as Adam seems to be moving through time and possibility, the audience is right behind him, soaking in the changes as they arrive without question. Although the narrative makes little cognitive sense, it feels absolutely correct for the heart, with each of us having wished for the ‘one last chance’ to spend time with those who really mattered.

As expected, All of Us Strangers isn’t that emotionally straightforward. Adam loves his parents but is almost unable to receive love back, having closed himself off to the idea that his true self deserves any form of affection. This in turn affects his relationship with Harry, never truly leaving the safe confines of his flat. Watching Adam navigate the triage of his parents, love interest, and himself is the cinematic equivalent of prying your chest open and rooting around to find the one source of pain you’d purposely buried away.

The key really is the power of love

Searchlight Pictures

From a technical standpoint, All of Us Strangers is a masterpiece of devastation. Filmed on 35mm, there’s an analog and traditional feel to the 1980s-tinged visuals, taking things back to homemade dinners, childhood records, and the war-torn angel atop the Christmas tree. Top of the Pops is an essential thread for Adam’s bearing on life, with Frankie Goes To Hollywood and the Pet Shop Boys cementing a path for him to reach out to his parents – impeccably played by Jamie Bell and Claire Foy.

Adam’s sense of consciousness moves through chaotic dreamlike sequences but also stands still in the pits of deep emotion, reliving the painful truths that he once considered as defining. The movie doesn’t present viewers with in past in the way that many might expect – for example, there are no flashbacks – bringing the matter in hand straight into the current world, proving that old wounds will never truly be healed. It’s therapeutic catharsis at its finest, and if you squint carefully, the actors might start to look like those who haunt your present.

When talking about the role of Adam, Andrew Scott recently claimed that he and Paul Mescal “didn’t need” a chemistry screentest, and it’s easy to see why. The two bring out the best and worst in each other, able to navigate tender moments that most real-life partners would run a mile away from. There’s a shared sense of intimacy that means a primarily LGBTQIA+ story pushes past its confines and is able to exist purely as a love story. Love, as we know, is the ultimate risk, and Andrew Haigh takes it in every way possible.

All of Us Strangers review score: 5/5

There’s no shying away from it – All of Us Strangers is one of the crowning triumphs of the year.

To engage with it is to commit yourself to having changed on the other side, confronting demons you’d long forgotten that you’ve harbored away. Andrew Scott is essentially spearheading an emotional cinematic revolution – and it’s not to be missed.

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