“All of Us Strangers” is a melancholic drama, filled with so much sadness and emotion that it took me a long time to settle in and get into it; the movie truly rocked my world as emotions flooded due to Andrew Scott’s perfect performance of grief, sadness and loneliness which pulls us in, and we are right beside him throughout the journey. The movie tackles loneliness, confronting our inner child and healing them, grief and catharsis. (I have left out a huge spoiler point from the twist in the movie to avoid ever spoiling this for anyone who hasn’t seen it because it will take away from this perfect sad movie).

Adam (Andrew Scott) is a lonely screenwriter who keeps to himself, and one night, has a strange encounter with his neighbour Harry (Paul Mescal), who he initially snubs after Harry approaches him for a night cap. Adam becomes engrossed in his past and finds himself back in his childhood home with his parents who had died in a car accident, although, they seem to be alive and well, welcoming him and talking to him like normal. Adam begins to deal with his grief, which he seems to not have processed all this while and in the midst of dealing with his grief, opens himself up to Harry; their relationship develops as Adam deals with and comes to terms with the death of his parents.

Adam is incredibly lonely and was lonely even when his parents were alive. In his encounter/confrontation with his father (Jamie Bell), Adam’s father apologizes for not opening the door all those years when he could hear Adam cry. Adam’s mother (Claire Foy) accepts her son’s sexuality when he comes out to him, but still shows concern for him, even becoming concerned about the AIDS pandemic that was ravaging the gay community, to which Adam assures her that there is nothing to worry about. Adam’s loneliness and depression manifest themselves in the hallucinations of his parents and this is his coping mechanism as he is able to share with them/articulate his own fears, his worries, anxieties in a way he can at the same time find comfort from within. Adam’s parents are even concerned whether their death was quick, and Adam assures them that it was. Because of what he is getting from his parents at the moment, the comfort and reassurance, Adam extends the same to them as he worries/tackles what concerns dead people could have and the assurance that one can give them. This once again gives him some assurance that his parents are resting in peace and did not suffer in death.

Both Adam and Harry are dealing with the same thing, and unfortunately when they encounter each other, there isn’t much either of them could have done for the other. This is a scathing indictment of how loneliness and mental illness take away from us our ability to function as a community. While life is happening to us, we become so blinkered, and we are unable to see the people going through the same things as us, we aren’t being there for people who might need it, or we might actually need to be there for people so that they can be there for us. “Harry” and “Adam” are happy together. They are able to move past their grief, loneliness and be there for each other. Adam doesn’t immediately become well, even as his relationship with “Harry” starts. He continues to escape to his parents to find solace and to go through the grief, because you can’t really come out of it without going through it, until he is finally out of the trenches and goes to Harry.

At the end of the film, we are left wondering, has Adam learned anything from this journey? Will he be triggered to go back into grief for what could have been, or will he heed Harry’s advise and not “let this get tangled up again”? We can only hope for the best, but mental illness is a prison and healing isn’t linear. “All of Us Strangers” put a lot into perspective. It places a mirror onto our society and allows us to see how loneliness, grief, mental illness and fear holds us back; the importance of pulling through and being there for one another, even strangers who may see through us, and we, them.

“All of Us Strangers” was a marvelous gut-wrenching movie and a must watch because it explores themes that are not only universal but aren’t usually tackled in mainstream cinema. Sure, the love and the fluff is great, and people like happy endings to be squeaky clean, however, life in the trenches might mean that the “happy” ending is just going back to your life with all the heartbreak and tragedy right in the rear view, still easily seen. Because of the magical surrealism and twists in the movie, we are required to suspend our disbelief in the movie, therefore I will not be rating it too strictly on the plot but rather on its themes.

Rating- 5 out of 5

Streaming on- Hulu