All Of Us Strangers has had viewers in tears since its release in January, with many thinking it was overlooked during this year’s awards season.
The emotional drama with Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal connects a beautiful romance with deep sadness, as Andrew’s character, Adam, remains deeply affected by the death of his parents (Claire Foy And Jamie Bell).
Based on Taichi Yamada’s 1987 novel Strangers, screenwriter Adam struggles to move on with his life as he becomes preoccupied with memories of the past before meeting his mysterious neighbor Harry (Mescal).
As the film blurs the lines between life and death, it becomes difficult to figure out what is real and what is a creation of Adam’s mind.
Here we dive deep into All Of Us Strangers as we explain the twists and turns of its gripping plot.
The twists and turns of All Of Us Strangers REVEALED: From visiting ghosts to a hazy night out who and what is real in the emotional drama starring Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal
Based on Taichi Yamada’s 1987 Strangers, screenwriter Adam struggles to move on with his life as he becomes consumed by memories of the past before meeting his mysterious neighbor Harry (Mescal).
The film begins as we meet Adam who lives a lonely life in his deserted country high-rise city apartment in London.
Watching Frankie Goes To Hollywood play The Power Of Love on his TV, a motif that continues throughout the film, Adam gets a knock on the door when he meets his neighbor Harry.
When Harry arrives drunk with a bottle of whiskey in his hand, he quotes the lyrics of the Frankie Goes To Hollywood hit and whispers: ‘I’ll protect you from the hooded claw / Keep the vampires from your door’.
After asking Adam if he can join him for the night, Adam refuses, but later meets Harry in the elevator, and the pair begin a passionate relationship.
While Adam learns to love and let someone in, he remains deeply affected by the death of his parents after they were both killed in a car accident when he was eleven years old.
Throughout the film, Andrew continues to visit his parents in his childhood home, which is exactly as he remembered them in the 1980s.
His relationship with Harry develops, interspersed with these imaginary visits home, until disaster strikes and Adam finds the corpse of his loved one.
After saying goodbye to his parents for the last time in a deeply emotional interaction, Adam seems ready to put his grief behind him and start a life with Harry.
The film depicts a romance between Harry and Adam. However, Harry dies the night he meets Adam, as is discovered later in the film
Throughout the film, Andrew continues to visit his parents in his childhood home, just as he remembered them in the 1980s (photo Claire Foy who plays his mother)
However, he returns to Harry’s flat and discovers his corpse next to the same bottle of whiskey he had with him when he showed up at Adam’s door that first evening.
As Adam stares at Harry’s body in shock, the door opens again and Harry walks in wearing the same pink sweater from that first night, asking, “I’m in there, aren’t I?”
When he cries in Adam’s arms, it becomes clear: Harry has been dead the entire movie after he died the night Adam refused to spend the night with him.
But once you realize it, the clues throughout the film begin to present themselves.
First, on the night they meet, Harry is holding the same Japanese whiskey he is found with when he dies, and wearing the same ratty pink sweater.
The pair are also the only two residents in the building, and Harry mentions that the windows are locked to prevent people from jumping.
Adam then visits his parents as we learn for the first time that he can see dead people and communicate with them in an incredibly lifelike way.
After his visit, he meets Harry in the elevator and their relationship begins. The pair grow closer throughout the film and go on a hazy night out together and it becomes increasingly difficult to discern what is real.
This is where things get quite confusing, as after Adam takes a massive dose of ketamine, it is unclear what is reality and what is part of his drug-fueled trip.
As the lights flash and the music blares, Harry disappears and Adam’s vision becomes distorted as he struggles to figure out if Harry is really there or not.
During the subway ride home, Harry constantly appears and disappears, as it becomes increasingly difficult to keep reality under control
Adam visits his parents as we learn for the first time that he can see dead people and communicate with them in an incredibly lifelike way (pictured by Jamie Bell who plays his father)
During the subway ride home, Harry continually appears and disappears as Adam loses his grip on reality.
At the end of the film, Adam enters Harry’s flat and finds an empty bag of drugs and a bottle of whiskey before seeing Harry’s body and realizing he has overdosed.
It is implied that the body is in an advanced state of decomposition as Adam recoils from the smell – suggesting that he has been dead for a long time and no one has noticed.
But is Adam dead too?
Some theories suggest that the main character is also not alive, which is why he can interact with dead people so easily.
Adam strangely lives in an empty apartment building, perhaps implying that there’s a reason why no one else lives there or that he doesn’t really live there at all.
Early in the film, a fire alarm goes off, giving rise to the theory that Adam died in a fire that day, leaving his ghost trapped with Harry.
Speaking about this theory, director Andrew Haigh said: ‘Someone asked me recently if they all died when the building burned down. They said, “Oh, did the building burn down at the beginning or at the end?” And I’m like, “Building burned down?”
But is Adam dead too? Some theories suggest that the main character is also no longer alive, which is why he can interact with dead people so easily
Another theory is that Adam’s parents and Harry are not real ghosts that Adam interacts with, but could simply be figments of his imagination.
“But that’s because a fire alarm went off at the beginning, and I think someone thought maybe they were both burned to death in the apartment when he went out and came back in, and the rest is kind of purgatory.
‘I actually like that idea. I know a lot of people think Adam might not be alive anymore and I can understand why they think that. The opening shot is a strange shot and sometimes I think he might not be alive either.’
Another debate is whether the ghosts are real or not?
There is a theory that Adam’s parents and Harry are not real ghosts and could just be figments of Adam’s imagination.
Early on we learn that Adam is writing a script about his parents, therefore any visits to his childhood home can be imagined as part of his project.
However, this does not explain why Adam cannot understand that Harry is also a ghost, even though he knows this to be true of his parents.
Regardless, Adam has pieced together these figures in his life from his own loneliness and sadness as he struggles to leave his childhood trauma behind and find his place in the world.
