All Of Us Strangers Q&A with director Andrew Haigh

[@edrianbobbycalabio1]

This is probably the best movie I've seen. It is amazing! I love everything, but most especially how it's written. Such a brilliant mind to create this movie. Brought me into a world of different emotions.

[@lallyamanteofficial]

He just created a MASTERPIECE and he seems so DOWN TO EARTH ! he inspires me so much in my film making career! ❤

[@MrAnubis50]

*PURE AND LATENT LONELINESS!!!* - It's this gay being from the 80s, loaded with all forms of prejudice in the family, at school, etc., that permeated the time. This revisiting "his parents" was the catharsis that the character found (writing the script) to say who he became. Sad and lonely for years, without even being able to have a relationship with another man. Setback, the personification of Love appears in front of him, and wrapped in fears, traumas, and without realizing the speed of time, he gradually allows himself to be enchanted by the possibility of loving and letting himself be loved, of filling the void that the Human Being has as his greatest tragedy! But temporal cruelty, in the most vile and real way, because Death is the "game over", only glimpses the pleasure of having someone as the Central Character... The end, in the Darkness of Time, in a plane that opens up , we have maintained there in infinity, the multiplicity of finiteness, the plurality of All of us! It's to cry, yes..... 😥😥😥😥

[@karolisfilm7869]

Really enjoyed this interview, both A Haigh and the interviewer. I feel like I learnt not just about the film but about filmmaking and cinema at large

[@jorgealves8578]

Andrew Haigh is a tremendously intelligent man. I've seen 4 of his films. I've loved them all. Each one is special, one of a kind, a unique vision of the human condition which can never be set apart from pain and loss and love. Thank you Mr. Haigh without your films life would be even more lonely.

[@markwardel6751]

Very interesting interview and a fabulous film....you cannot shake the feeling and atmosphere of the film.

[@sydheather]

Gutted I didn't get a ticket for the Q&A screening at the time but I'm glad I saw the film yesterday at The Garden Cinema and now I can see this recording. Andrew is honest and relatable as a filmmaker, what a breath of fresh air. All of Us Strangers is a beautiful film that perfectly balances drama, comedy and the supernatural considering it is essentially a ghost story - I wasn't expecting it at all, but it works perfectly together and remains grounded. A creative challenge throughout the process I'm sure. It's poignant, heartbreaking and life-affirming in equal measure. A cathartic film that is undoubtedly a modern classic and a new favourite film.

[@wilhelm.reeves]

8:50 Everything was perfect, my god 😭

[@joestrummer1962]

27:45. Beautiful

[@joestrummer1962]

Did anyone else have a negative reaction to the ending? I loved the movie up til the last 5 minutes, which made it seem like it had all happened in the main character's head, "Mulholland Dr." style. That would mean not only did the parents not really exist as souls, but the really beautiful relationship that he built with his man didn't actually happen at all. I would prefer to think that they were all ghosts in purgatory, where those relationships would've at least have been real. Would love to be persuaded that I'm wrong, misunderstood the ending, something smart in response...Thanks!

[@Ambroos]

Spoilers ahead obviously. I think the answer you're looking for was given by the mother in one of the scenes of the movie, when Adam asks if all he's experiencing is real. His mother asks if it feels real, Adam responds with yes, and she says "well there you go then". Yes, the conversations with his parents are just in his head, and so are all of the interactions with Harry after the initial rejection at Adam's door. But the important part is that to Adam, those *are* real. Do you know those moments when you wake up after a really intense dream, and feel shaken to the core? What happens in your head *is* really important, and has a real impact on you. In the movie, he's likely experiencing all of this in the context of a script he's writing (he is a screenwriter after all). He's writing the script of how if it was possible he would want these things to go, because it's what he feels he needs to resolve this knot in his chest. After the diner, where there's catharsis and his parents say goodbye for real, Adam is ready to make decisions, to open up and to move forward with life. This is why he goes to Harry's apartment. He probably knows that what he had with Harry before was also just in his head, but he's ready to let Harry in this time. Unfortunately in this case it ended up in another trauma, and he has to go into his head to process it again. The moment he has with Harry then are how he deals with the grief of losing this idea of loving someone he only met once. But now he's able to deal with it. Harry's fears mirror his own, but Adam is OK with confronting them, and knows it will be OK. He's learned how to move forward. The actual screenplay for the movie ends with these lines, which I think capture the essence of the ending well: As the song builds, Adam holds Harry tighter, comforted at last, cared for at last, no longer strangers. Harry’s breathing slows. “Love is the light, scaring darkness away”. As the music soars, we pull away from them. It seems like they are almost dancing, swaying together, for how long we won’t ever know. Further and further we come. Out of the room. Spiralling. Into the night. Adam and Harry fall away as we rise into the stars. Finally, as the music crescendos, Adam and Harry are no more than a glint in the dark sky. A guide not a warning. “Make love your goal”.

[@MrWilldean66]

If the two main characters are outsiders of the gay world, why? Their experiences seem so familiar and resonate deeply, so exactly who are the insiders of the gay world?

[@svajoklis2]

He doesn't say they were outsiders of the gay world. He says they are outsiders within the world, including their own families.