Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott are heartbreaking in All of Us Strangers

'All of Us Strangers' is a film featuring Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott, with Claire Foy and Jamie Bell. Directed by Andrew Haigh, it's a beautifully nuanced film about loss, love, and hope. Despite the plot suggesting a ghost story, it's far from it. The film revolves around a middle-aged man, Adam, portrayed by Andrew Scott, who visits his deceased parents. His parents, played by Claire Foy and Jamie Bell, are remembered with a clear-eyed, unsentimental view. Paul Mescal plays the role of Adam's new lover. The film is a poignant portrayal of loss, enduring love, and hope for the future.

The film begins with Adam living in a nearly-empty high-rise in London. He's a screenwriter, working on a story about his parents. One night, a younger man named Harry, played by Mescal, shows up at Adam's door. Initially, Adam declines, but eventually, he changes his mind. They become intimate partners, possibly heading toward love. The film expertly balances Adam's current relationship with his visits to the past. He visits his childhood home and encounters his father in a nearby park, who takes him back to the house. The furniture hasn't changed since Adam lived there; he is home.

The film effectively plays off the common wish to revisit those we have lost, to fill them in on our lives and to ask the questions we never could. These ghosts exist entirely in Adam's imagination, yet they have such life that you suspect he might be a very good screenwriter. The family acknowledges that they haven't seen each other in some time, but don't yet speak about death. In two of the most honest and wrenching scenes, Adam visits each of his parents alone. When his mother asks if he has a girlfriend and he tells her he's gay, she reacts not as he'd wish her to, but with the disappointment he suspects she really might have had. The film becomes more heart-wrenching as it moves on. How could it not? But every imagined scene remains full of authentic emotion. The film has been making festival audiences weep since it premiered at the Telluride Film Festival in August. These four profound and tender performances, and Haigh's uncompromising vision, make those tears feel entirely earned. The film is released on 22 December in the US and 26 January in the UK.