"All of Us Strangers": Empty Apartment Escapades
Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal mesmerize in this psychologically haunting and harrowing screenplay.
[MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD–CONSIDER YOURSELF WARNED]
Time to review director and writer Andrew Haigh’s “All of Us Strangers,” which stars Andrew Scott, Paul Mescal, Jamie Bell and Claire Foy.
The film centers around Scott’s Adam as he explores the loneliness of his life through a nonlinear set of interactive explorations into his past. In doing so, the brilliant yet disturbed writer starts to imagine how he would connect with his parents if they were still alive. Simultaneously, the nearly vacant apartment building in which Adam lives on the outskirts of London is home to just one other tenant, Mescal’s Harry.
“All of Us Strangers” is undoubtedly a psychological drama. The filmmaking gets more profound with each scene into the increasingly unraveling mental and emotional state of Adam. Who is Adam? This question is the essence of the story, and it is a heavy burden for any actor. Understanding not only the emotional baggage of this character, which includes many real-world struggles (i.e., grief, anxiety, and loss) but also how such difficulties impact someone’s ability to move forward and make other meaningful connections.
Given the seriousness of the film’s content and the measured manner in which it flows narratively and cinematically, Haigh and Taichi Yamada’s writing and Scott’s performance were the determining factors in the final product’s quality or lack thereof.
Both are compelling in equal measure. The writing is the perfect blend of finding the beauty in the mundane activities of daily life and the conversations we have not only with those we are closest to but also the discussion we have with ourselves. Self-doubt, love, anger and excitement are explored through Adam’s relationships with his deceased parents and Harry masterfully. The writing is brought to life in a performance by Scott that is as believable as it is professional. The emotion he not only speaks from the masterful writing, but the added elements of visual conveyance of the pain and confusion he feels is evident at the outset.
Mescal, Bell and Foy all pitch in beautiful performances, each with scene-defining spectacles that will leave you as happy as finding true love and as heartbroken as losing those closest to you. The film has a dreamlike atmosphere throughout, which, complemented by a hypnotic score and hazy editing, creates a sense of viewer uncertainty that allows a partial insight into the daily struggle for purpose and love that Adam is experiencing.
Haigh never inserts himself as a moralist when portraying the various types of personal and often taboo subjects someone like Adam experiences. Instead, he simply shows the potential effects of internalizing pain, working with one’s identity and longing for deeper connections. The series of events leaves the viewer with a multitude of ways in which to digest and interpret how best to understand Adam and his not-so-unique set of struggles.
The emotional potency of the film comes with a universality of personal struggle and the world-class acting on display throughout. However, “All of Us Strangers” is not an easy watch, nor is it something I recommend to a general audience. The depths of human depravity are on display, which play out in ways that are as confusing to the characters on-screen as they are to the audience watching. Notably, the film’s final act left me with an unshakeable sense of confusion as to the artistic choice for such a scene.
While this decision remains unexplainable, it nevertheless does not distract nor detract from the rest of the beauty and relevance of “All of Us Strangers,” which speaks to critical aspects of our increasingly connected yet lonely world.