All of Us Strangers at HOME
Tom Grieve, Cinema Editor
Screenwriter Adam (Andrew Scott) lives by himself in London, purposefully locked away from the world. One day a fire alarm sounds and having exited the tower block, he discovers he is the only one to have done so. But looking up, he spots a neighbour, Harry (Paul Mescal) staring down at him from a balcony. An uneasy acquaintance blossoms into a more intimate, romantic relationship as the pair are drawn together by their shared isolation.
Meanwhile, Adam visits his old childhood home and makes an unexpected discovery. His parents died thirty years previous, before he was twelve, and yet he finds them living in the house, without having aged a day. The mystery takes a backseat as Adam reconnects with his mother and father (Jamie Bell and Claire Foy), catching them up on his life to date. While the conceit means that Adam is now older than his parents, who themselves have a set of values that are perhaps thirty years out of fashion.
With All of Us Strangers, writer-director Andrew Haigh (the man behind the exceptional Weekend and 45 Years) uses his metaphysical set-up to explore ideas of grief and loneliness, familial and romantic love and the needs we have from both. His central quartet are four of the finest actors working today, and it’s exciting to see them gamely taking a risk on such raw, potent material.
