Coming-of-age films tend to have a protagonist in their late teens, but what happens if your life at that age is too fraught and difficult to come of age properly? That was the case for most queer people in 1980s Britain. A very homophobic press and media, reflecting national opinions, combined with an almost complete lack of high-profile queer role models, Section 28, and the haunting AIDS epidemic, meant that living an out queer life was too daunting for most.
Brilliant writer/director Andrew Haigh (Weekend, Looking) explores this in his latest, award-winning, work of art, All of Us Strangers. Part love story, part ghost story, part late coming-of-age tale, All of Us Strangers is loosely based on the Japanese novel Strangers, by Taichi Yamada, and combined with Haigh’s own experiences as a gay youth growing up in 1980s Britain.
Andrew Scott plays Adam, a reserved, repressed, listless forty-seven-year-old screenwriter living alone in a newly built apartment block in south London. He has writer’s block so passes his time eating junk food, staring out of the window, and watching trashy daytime TV. He’s writing a script about his relationship with his late parents who were killed in a car crash when he was eleven.
A fire alarm in the building triggers eye contact with the block’s only other occupant, handsome, twenty-something Harry (Paul Mescal). Harry subsequently turns up at Adam’s apartment door drunk, and the two men begin to get to know each other. They are awkward, yet beautiful together, and gradually find their common ground, developing a thoughtful, gentle romance. Both are somewhat lonesome, neither having friends living nearby. They examine their queer lived experiences which are different because of their twenty-year-age gap, Harry having had a much easier time of it. Both men, however, still feel at the margins of their birth families.
Adam continues his writing, freshly inspired, and decides to visit his childhood home in Croydon (Haigh’s actual childhood home) for inspiration. When he gets there, he is astonished to find his parents still living there, the same age and in the same physical and mental space as they were when they passed in 1987. His bedroom is exactly as he remembered it, with his Action Man and Erasure and Frankie Goes To Hollywood albums. Mum (Claire Foy) and Dad (Jamie Bell) welcome Adam home, and the three catch up on Adam’s news from the past thirty-five years. Over a series of subsequent visits, Adam comes out to them and tells them about his new relationship with Harry. His parents’ minds are however still in 1987, and they, Mum in particular, find his homosexuality somewhat difficult to understand. They worry about AIDS, think Adam may end up lonely, childless, etc; and what people may think. Adam brings them up-to-date with 21st-century queer living. His mother, although friendly and seemingly understanding, refuses to share flapjack with him, echoing that misguided 1980s fear that some people had of catching AIDS from sharing food with someone. His father is more relaxed, although regrets not comforting Adam when he was bullied as a child.
Meanwhile, Andrew and Harry’s relationship develops and they have fun, sexy nights in and out, including a booze and ketamine fuelled night at London’s Royal Vauxhall Tavern. The drugs trigger confusion in Adam regarding his visits to his parents, and Harry has to comfort him, eventually agreeing to visit them with Adam. No one is home when the two men go to see them. The intensity of what is going on for Adam with his parents and Harry gradually reaches a head.
Haigh’s tour-de-force combines beautiful sunlit cinematography with outstanding performances by the cast to examine grief, family, love, and loneliness. The thoughtful script is enhanced by Andrew Scott’s genius body language and expressive face which say as much as his words. The film effortlessly skips from 1987 to the present day, showing us how far queer lives have developed and enhanced since those dark, trauma-filled, days of the 1980s, yet also highlighting the incomplete youth had by many. Of course, homophobia is still rife throughout the world but it’s heartening to see that queer coming-of-age joy can be felt at any age. The film is also an interesting exploration of what might happen if we got to spend time again with deceased loved ones. Would this actually be good for our mental health? Maybe there are good reasons we didn’t have the conversations we feel we should have had. A moving soundtrack includes The Power of Love by Frankie Goes To Hollywood and other gems by The Pet Shop Boys, Fine Young Cannibals and Alison Moyet amongst others. The level of detail in this film is incredible. A moving, must-see work of genius.
Queerguru’s Contributing Editor Ris Fatah is a successful fashion/luxury business consultant (when he can be bothered) who divides and wastes his time between London and Ibiza. He is a lover of all things queer, feminist, and human rights in general. @ris.fatah
