If copying yourself is style, as Alfred Hitchcock coined the phrase, now his compatriot, the British Andrew Haigh, reinforces it.
In 2011 he released
Weekend
, the story of a young gay man who lived in a building and was looking for some kind of... human connection.
A dozen years later, the director returns to a nearly empty luxury condo in London.
And if
Weekend
, which was somewhat morosely discursive and became a classic of gay cinema,
We Are All Strangers
meets the same parameters.
Now the protagonist is Adam (
Andrew Scott
, from
Fleabag
and
Oslo
), a somewhat boring guy.
He is a screenwriter who wants to write about his family, but instead of sitting in front of his laptop more regularly, he prefers to stay watching TV and eating junk food until late at night.
Andrew Scott is Adam, who lives alone in a practically empty building in London.
Disney Photos
Until a chance encounter -yes, as happened in
Weekend
- changes his existence.
It is Harry (Paul Mescal, who last year was nominated for an Oscar as a leading actor for
Aftersun
, and this year we will see him as Lucius in
Gladiator 2
), a stranger who would be the only other inhabitant of the building.
After several flirtations, sex and romance ensue, and Adam finally sets his goal of writing about his family.
It's not easy: his parents died in a car accident when he was 12 years old.
So when he visits the house he lived in, which is empty, he meets dad and mom (Jamie Bell, from
Billy Elliot
, and Claire Foy, Queen Elizabeth in the first two seasons of
The Crown
).
The surprise that this first meeting causes in the viewer is great, because the actor Andrew Scott, the son, is at least 10 years older than Bell and Foy.
Paul Mescal is Harry.
He was nominated for an Oscar last year for "Aftersun," and we'll see him in "Gladiator 2."
Ages don't matter and yes, we are facing another case of someone who sees dead people.
Adam relates to his parents, who have not heard from him since his death.
Mom didn't know he was gay, dad half guessed it.
We Are All Strangers
is not a horror film at all, although it plays with that ghostly presence.
And also with the unclosed grief of that adolescent child turned adult.
Because Adam's parents seem to have been waiting for his son to come home.
We are going to discover Adam's life through the questions of his parents, who long to know what has become of his life, how he has grown, and his story.
Jamie Bell, the actor who was "Billy Elliot" as a child, plays Adam's father, who died like his mother.
The other leg is Harry, and with his inquisitions and Adam's answers the portrait of this orphaned, lonely and adrift man is put together.
He cannot get rid of the pain for his parents and feels that this empty existence, living in the city, has its reasons.
But in the film at times it seems as if the director distanced himself from Adam, who is more immersed in the spectral world than in the real one.
The performances of the four performers are extremely valuable.
“We are all strangers”
Good
Drama.
United Kingdom, 2023.
Original title:
“All of Us Strangers
”.
106', SAM 16.
From:
Andrew Haigh.
Starring:
Andrew Scott, Paul Mescal, Jamie Bell, Claire Foy.
Theaters
: Cinemark Palermo, Hoyts Unicenter, Cinépolis Recoleta and Pilar, Showcase Belgrano and Norcenter.