All of Us Strangers  ★★★★

BRITISH romantic drama All of Us Strangers is billed as a film that will particularly resonate with a certain audience due to the fact its two main characters are gay males.

That may be true, but it resonates with everyone who reflects on choices they are making now or have made in the past and what their parents would have thought.

My father died more than a decade ago but there isn’t a week that goes by when I don’t wonder what he would have thought about my current life, the people in it and how we have arrived at this point.

In All of Us Strangers the lead character gets to experience that reflection in scenes when gets to speak as an adult with his parents who, in this multiverse, are still alive at the same age as they died in reality.

Written and directed by Andrew Haigh, the script is an adaptation of a 1987 novel, Strangers, by Taichi Yamada who is also the film’s co-writer.

It is actually the second feature film adaptation of the novel, the earlier being Japanese film The Discarnates released in 1988.

Andrew Scott gives the kind of powerful central performance that will ensure his career well and truly takes off in a similar way to his co-star Paul Mescal experienced with Aftersun in 2023.

Mescal is again mesmerizing in his pivotal role while Jamie Bell and Claire Foy round out the cast playing Scott’s character’s parents.

Haigh doesn’t try to do anything ostentatious with his camera and editing, which could have easily occurred and generally leaves us to revel in the acting and words.

There are scenes that have the power to overcome the emotions and leave you pondering for some time.