All of Us Strangers (Andrew Haigh, 2023) Andrew Scott, Paul Mescal, Claire Foy, Jamie Bell
SPOILER ALERT
Just before this started I noticed the word 'fantasy' appear in a descriptor together with 'romance'. I was expecting the latter because I knew it was a gay love story, but I didn't know just what 'fantasy' meant in this context until I read the Wikipedia 'plot' summary, after the film finished. I had missed the obvious indicator that brought what turned out to be the two fantasies together, so it wasn't until then that I realised that everything after the first couple of minutes is fantasy.
In that sense, there's only one real character in the film: the one played by Andrew Scott. It's definitely his film - possibly the one he was 'born to play'.
Here's the spoiler. I thought that Adam (Scott's character) has an affair (is that the word?) with Harry (Paul Mescal) and imagines all the stuff about his mother and father (because they are actually dead). But no: the Harry story is also a fantasy. He is also dead, having died the night of meeting Adam, in those first few minutes of the film.
But wait! Every film is a fantasy, in a sense. So I suppose the characters – and insights derived from the story – are just as real as in any film. ... Let's move on.
Andrew Scott is brilliant. We knew he was good, and now we get to see him in his own film, and he does not disappoint for one second.
Not so sure about Mescal. I couldn't understand much of his dialogue. I suppose it's because he's Irish ... I now know, tho I was going for something like Liverpool while watching. He gets a lot of attention – Aftersun for example – tho I'm not sure why.
Garry Gillard | reviews | New: 12 February, 2024 | Now: 12 February, 2024