Dark. Mysterious. Unsettling. Romantic. Poetic Prophetic. Andrew Haigh’s (Leon on Pete, 45 Years) All of Us Strangers is an imaginative, transcendent love story featuring two Oscar-nominated actors portraying empathetic characters desperately searching for human connection. This idyllic love story gives a glimpse from its first scenes that our two leads are destined for something beautifully tragic.

All of Us Strangers gave me vibes of Steven McQueen’s fabulously dark and disturbing Shame, a film in which we follow a middle-aged loner traversing an eerie, extensive cityscape, searching for human connection while understanding that such a thing might not be in the cards for him. In Shame, the otherwise ordinary character portrayed by Michael Fassbender seems to have everything going for him, but secretly is succumbing to his sexual addiction. In All of Us Strangers, Adam (Andrew Scott – 1917, Denial), we don’t get a sense of public perception about whether things are going well or not. Still, we do learn pretty early on that he struggles with finding acceptance as a gay, 40-year-old-something unsuccessful writer who also lost both of his parents in a tragic car accident when he was 12. McQueen’s and Haigh’s films share a menacing similarity in style and tone from the outset, though each movie goes in entirely different directions thereafter.

In All of Us Strangers, Adam is living in what looks to be a vacant high-rise in London. We soon learned that it isn’t so much abandoned as completed recently. Adam is one of its first occupants. It is only slightly ironic (in a film where everything seems purposeful) that Adam appears to have lived in his flat for quite some time. The handsome, seductive, mysterious Harry (Paul Mescal – Aftersun, God’s Creatures) is the only other tenant we meet. The two men establish an instant attraction and connection when Harry comes to Andrew’s door one night,  whisky bottle in hand, and introduces himself. A drunk Harry is far more forward than a smitten, though reluctant, Adam. While they do not hook up then, they get to know each other over the coming days and weeks. Soon, they are engaged in an intently passionate romance. They share secrets that they’ve never shared with others. Each victim of rebuked love, both men start to trust each other, believing they may have found the one they’ve been searching for, the one they can love and care for, and who reciprocates that same love and care. Adam and Harry seem to have found their safe and happy place in a dangerous, busy world.

Then, seemingly for no reason, we are whisked out of London’s nighttime landscape into a softer, cozier suburban neighborhood. A man approaches Adam, greets him with “There you are,” and brings him to his home, where his wife awaits. The man (Jamie Bell – Rocketman, Snowpiercer) and woman (Claire Foy – Unsane, First Man) are Adam’s mother and father. They look exactly as he remembers them looking before their car accident. This means that 40-something-year-old Adam is with his 30-something-year-old parents. Is this a dream? Has Adam time-traveled to 35 years in the past? Has Adam, too, died? Is he suffering from mental delusions? Is it something else?

The how is less important than the what. What we know is that this is either the first connection between Adam and his parents, or, if there were previous connections, they exist in his stream of consciousness, so each connection appears as the first. Adam is still that insecure little boy who never had a chance to say goodbye to his parents. It is the former, as he revisits this newfound place and advances the storyline with his parents for the audience. As Adam reconnects with his parents, warmth and tenderness exude. While his parents are exactly as he remembered them, Adam is not the 12-year-old son that they remember. Instead, he is the 40-something-year-old man he is now, and the parents want to learn all about him.

The film clocks in at a crisp 105 minutes (a perfect length for a movie), but it tells so much. Almost instantly, we learn the differences between his mother and father. His mother is confused by his gayness, asking questions like, “How long have you known you are gay?” “Don’t you want to have children?”  “What about AIDS?” and other types of questions that purposely show a 1980s reaction to a parent learning their child is gay versus a 2023 reaction. This creates a little distance and some initial friction between Adam and his mom.

Adam’s father is much more accepting of his son’s sexuality. There is one heartfelt conversation in particular when his father tells Adam that he always suspected he might be gay. When he asks Adam how his peers treated him when they learned he was gay and heard some of the horrible responses, his father truthfully admits that he may have acted similarly.

This leads us back to how Adam’s newly discovered relationship with his parents weaves into his relationship with Harry. Is it merely a coincidence that the discovery of the three most important relationships coincided? Will this passionate, exciting romance take a back seat to the reconnection with his mom and dad? What exactly is happening here? Is this all too good to be true? Are we set up for as much doom as Adam’s somber, skittish eyes constantly suggest?

All of Us Strangers is exquisitely shot. Whether Haigh packs us into a nightclub, on the flat of Adam’s couch, or in Adam’s childhood home, we always feel included. Due to the movie’s success, the characters only know what is happening if the audience does. Everything that Haigh does is purposeful. It might take five rewatches, and much would still be missed.