Adam was not dead, the last scene revealed that Harry died that first night after they had that first conversation at the door and Adam didn't let him in. That was Harry's last attempt to escape his own loneliness. It's also a metaphor about the fact that Adam doesn't let people in, he's closed off and cannot open himself up to another because of his trauma.
Exactly, Adam is not dead. Depending on whether it's a ghost story or took place in his imagination, he either accompanied Harry as he died or “let him go”.
Yeah, it’s so bittersweet. It’s only until Adam takes the first step to seek out Harry, which is the culmination of his journey, that he finds him dead. Bittersweet because it’s his imagination of the 3 of them that helps him open up, even if in the end they’re not there to enjoy the payoff.
Yep, before Harry shows up the first time Adam is listening to The Power of Love, Harry hears it and says "There are vampires at my door" (a lyric from the song but also him saying he wants Adam to fulfill that kind of romance that he isn't sure exists), and Adam turns him down. In the end as they're laying together The Power of Love plays, which is Adam fantasizing about what it would have been like if he had allowed himself to feel that kind of love and blaming himself for not
But dead people became stars. I'm from India and most asian myth says that people became stars after they're dead. You should check concept mentioned in The fountain, huge Jackson movie. Most of this movies scene looks like astral dimension, very blue and gorgeous opposite of earthy dimension.
I like to think that Adam is alive and like the kid from The Sixth Sense. He just happens to see dead people. This movie shook me to my core. Absolute masterpiece.
@@rafaeldimarzio Yeah, but the difference is that the waitress obviously can't see the parents. She clearly sees one man by himself ordering enough food for three, and finds it odd. So that tells us that Adam is not in the same "state" as his parents. The cashier in the store may have been part of the "purgatory", or maybe the dad didn't actually buy the bottle, but merely pantomimed.
This movie kicked me in the floor! I felt very sad, like depressed after watching this movie. The fact that Adam decided to stay with Harry, in this fake world, just with him, not wanting to live in treality anymore... uff is devastating.
@WillWatches One interesting theory is that Adam has written a screenplay to show what happened. When he meets Harry, he tells him that he's writing a screenplay about his parents, so perhaps all those conversations are in the screenplay he writes including his interactions with Harry. I find that to be an interesting take of the movie.
Yes, with Adam writing the screenplay in the beginning the entire conversations with his parents are only the conversations and their responses that Adam attributes to them. So all the love and acceptance from his parents are the responses Adam wants to hear and hopes his parents would have had if they had lived through Adam's adolescence and adulthood. A fascinating movie, with great acting from the four characters.
I'm not so sure that Adam was also dead. If he were dead too, then he and his parents would be together in the afterlife. They wouldn't have had to say goodbye to him. I see the ending as he 'lets go of/moves on from' his parents, only to cling onto the past with regard to Harry and Adam's guilt over not inviting Harry in. All just a theory of course.
After watching the movie thru again, I’ve decided to believe it was all a hallucination as Adam’s building is burning down (the alarm at the very start, his coughing fits, he feels hot all the time, club/siren lights, etc) Granted, this theory is partly motivated by self preservation, because any other interpretation I come up with is too heartbreaking for me to bear 💔
My theory is that the film depicts the process of a depression healing. He had depression and got himself isolated, full of fears and acceptance problems. He went through his whole life daydreaming about what he could have lived with his parents (as he mentions to his mother at the bed). He was a good writer that lives the whole experience which helps him write about their parents (the subject of his text). The whole experience is triggered by him visiting his old house and city in the movie's beginning... But after meet harry he felt the passion flame inside of him and he feel he needed to get in touch with this growing adam with his parents (as he had always daydream about him as a kid while with them). And by talking about it he also start to get ready and let go what was holding him from live a love, stop being lonely. He imagined harry as he wanted to be. His first impression was someone young, sex driven guy, no body and sex shame or sexuality concerns , but tender and lonely as he knocked on his door saying he couldnt cope the silence and loliness of the place. Harry touchs the life style he wanted to live and help him realize it was time to overcome his parents death and let them go so that he could have his life. The parents terms was as he dreamed. In reality he couldn't say bye to his parents and always felt guilty about that, in the end he can say bye to the father and hear he was proud of him (what son doesnt want to hear that, specially a queer one) and the mother that woke up blind in the hospital and probably lost without knowing what happened and where were him, she turns blind right before go and he can hold her hands, giving her comfort before she say she likes and approve his relationship and him to love the man (also another thing you expect from a mother). When he finally is ready to love he goes to Harry's place. As soon as he find out the true the minds harry take over, having the last words, again, as he would like to have. The perfect conversation, giving comfort for him, with his body and words (the last harry's position being the same as the body found may suggest he was saying those words to the true one).... As the end unfolds harry is now ready to move on. He did grow ready to love and let the past behind a
I see the whole film as a redemption arc and a " re- do" of the " endings" with both parents and a " redo" of his ability to fully connect with his lover.
In your review you ask about what could have happened to Adam. There are some hints of a fire. The movie starts with a fire alarm. After harry goes to his apartment he says: one day it will be real". Many times he was hot. On the train scene he even coughs really hard. There are many scenes of lights as of ambulance, cops or firefighters.
If you pay attention to what Harry is wearing at the end, it’s the same outfit that he was wearing when they first met. And holding the Japanese whiskey that he had brought to the apartment that first night. Meaning that Harry died the night they met when he was shut out in the hallway. I also thought that meant that Adam had died somewhere before the story began, but apparently the director Andrew Haigh has stated that Adam was alive. The book it’s based on had a living protagonist communicating with dead people. For me the movie remains open to interpretation and makes more sense that they’re all dead.
@@SSewerrratt he explained how he had heard that people were saying adam was dead but he wasnt but he thought it was great people were really thinking and coming up with their own conclusions, when adam was at the restaurant the waitress spoke to him proving he was alive, she said he was ordering a lot of food she couldnt see his mum and dad but she saw him
@@SSewerrratt to be honest it made more sense if he hadve died in fire but alas he was alive and living through the pain, i think the whole imagery in his mind was him writing his script
Then what is the purpose of the fire alarm? What's the purpose of the rotting take out and the fever? The coughing on the train? Why throw in all these needless plot points if they contribute nothing to the overall story? Also, aren't many of the people in the club also on the train?
Interesting theory. I didn't think Adam was dead. However, if Adam was dead from beginning or after fire alarm, I think this is London verson of "The others" by Nicole Kidman.
It’s so, I don’t like using the word “depressing” about Harry’s last hope at Adam’s door. It ripped my heart. It’s so much deeper than depressing. Harry is pleading for Adam to give him one last reason to stay alive. He was rejected and died with no hope. Not one ounce of being cared for. I know that feeling. The next time Harry is at Adam’s apartment, Adam offers him a drink and he used a very interesting throwaway line, “no, I stopped that.” That was the first major clue that Harry was dead. The second one was when Harry saw the reflections of Adam’s dead parents through the door window. Harry wasn’t scared of ghosts. It was his realization that he himself was dead but he didn’t know it until that moment. This is beyond devastating and I love it. I fell in love with Paul Mescal all over again.
Adam was not dead, the last scene revealed that Harry died that first night after they had that first conversation at the door and Adam didn't let him in. That was Harry's last attempt to escape his own loneliness. It's also a metaphor about the fact that Adam doesn't let people in, he's closed off and cannot open himself up to another because of his trauma.
Exactly, Adam is not dead. Depending on whether it's a ghost story or took place in his imagination, he either accompanied Harry as he died or “let him go”.
Yeah, it’s so bittersweet.
It’s only until Adam takes the first step to seek out Harry, which is the culmination of his journey, that he finds him dead.
Bittersweet because it’s his imagination of the 3 of them that helps him open up, even if in the end they’re not there to enjoy the payoff.
Yep, before Harry shows up the first time Adam is listening to The Power of Love, Harry hears it and says "There are vampires at my door" (a lyric from the song but also him saying he wants Adam to fulfill that kind of romance that he isn't sure exists), and Adam turns him down. In the end as they're laying together The Power of Love plays, which is Adam fantasizing about what it would have been like if he had allowed himself to feel that kind of love and blaming himself for not
I really wanna know what would happen after that, is Harry’s ghost gonna always haunt Adam or Adam is gonna let him go
But dead people became stars. I'm from India and most asian myth says that people became stars after they're dead. You should check concept mentioned in The fountain, huge Jackson movie. Most of this movies scene looks like astral dimension, very blue and gorgeous opposite of earthy dimension.
I like to think that Adam is alive and like the kid from The Sixth Sense. He just happens to see dead people. This movie shook me to my core. Absolute masterpiece.
Except I don’t like the sixth sense. It’s not written well and we knew from the beginning that Bruce Willis is dead.
There’s also the waitress in the restaurant with Adam’s parents. She sees Adam and speaks with him. Adam is alive.
The father also buys a bottle in a store right in the beginning, this can be all part of the "purgatory" environment or stuff
@@rafaeldimarzio Yeah, but the difference is that the waitress obviously can't see the parents. She clearly sees one man by himself ordering enough food for three, and finds it odd. So that tells us that Adam is not in the same "state" as his parents. The cashier in the store may have been part of the "purgatory", or maybe the dad didn't actually buy the bottle, but merely pantomimed.
This movie kicked me in the floor! I felt very sad, like depressed after watching this movie. The fact that Adam decided to stay with Harry, in this fake world, just with him, not wanting to live in treality anymore... uff is devastating.
@WillWatches One interesting theory is that Adam has written a screenplay to show what happened. When he meets Harry, he tells him that he's writing a screenplay about his parents, so perhaps all those conversations are in the screenplay he writes including his interactions with Harry. I find that to be an interesting take of the movie.
Yes, with Adam writing the screenplay in the beginning the entire conversations with his parents are only the conversations and their responses that Adam attributes to them. So all the love and acceptance from his parents are the responses Adam wants to hear and hopes his parents would have had if they had lived through Adam's adolescence and adulthood. A fascinating movie, with great acting from the four characters.
I'm not so sure that Adam was also dead. If he were dead too, then he and his parents would be together in the afterlife. They wouldn't have had to say goodbye to him. I see the ending as he 'lets go of/moves on from' his parents, only to cling onto the past with regard to Harry and Adam's guilt over not inviting Harry in. All just a theory of course.
28:26 I just let out the most hysterical sob/laugh.
After watching the movie thru again, I’ve decided to believe it was all a hallucination as Adam’s building is burning down (the alarm at the very start, his coughing fits, he feels hot all the time, club/siren lights, etc)
Granted, this theory is partly motivated by self preservation, because any other interpretation I come up with is too heartbreaking for me to bear 💔
My theory is that the film depicts the process of a depression healing. He had depression and got himself isolated, full of fears and acceptance problems. He went through his whole life daydreaming about what he could have lived with his parents (as he mentions to his mother at the bed). He was a good writer that lives the whole experience which helps him write about their parents (the subject of his text). The whole experience is triggered by him visiting his old house and city in the movie's beginning... But after meet harry he felt the passion flame inside of him and he feel he needed to get in touch with this growing adam with his parents (as he had always daydream about him as a kid while with them). And by talking about it he also start to get ready and let go what was holding him from live a love, stop being lonely. He imagined harry as he wanted to be. His first impression was someone young, sex driven guy, no body and sex shame or sexuality concerns , but tender and lonely as he knocked on his door saying he couldnt cope the silence and loliness of the place. Harry touchs the life style he wanted to live and help him realize it was time to overcome his parents death and let them go so that he could have his life. The parents terms was as he dreamed. In reality he couldn't say bye to his parents and always felt guilty about that, in the end he can say bye to the father and hear he was proud of him (what son doesnt want to hear that, specially a queer one) and the mother that woke up blind in the hospital and probably lost without knowing what happened and where were him, she turns blind right before go and he can hold her hands, giving her comfort before she say she likes and approve his relationship and him to love the man (also another thing you expect from a mother).
When he finally is ready to love he goes to Harry's place. As soon as he find out the true the minds harry take over, having the last words, again, as he would like to have. The perfect conversation, giving comfort for him, with his body and words (the last harry's position being the same as the body found may suggest he was saying those words to the true one).... As the end unfolds harry is now ready to move on. He did grow ready to love and let the past behind a
I see the whole film as a redemption arc and a " re- do" of the " endings" with both parents and a " redo" of his ability to fully connect with his lover.
In your review you ask about what could have happened to Adam. There are some hints of a fire. The movie starts with a fire alarm. After harry goes to his apartment he says: one day it will be real". Many times he was hot. On the train scene he even coughs really hard. There are many scenes of lights as of ambulance, cops or firefighters.
If you pay attention to what Harry is wearing at the end, it’s the same outfit that he was wearing when they first met. And holding the Japanese whiskey that he had brought to the apartment that first night. Meaning that Harry died the night they met when he was shut out in the hallway.
I also thought that meant that Adam had died somewhere before the story began, but apparently the director Andrew Haigh has stated that Adam was alive. The book it’s based on had a living protagonist communicating with dead people. For me the movie remains open to interpretation and makes more sense that they’re all dead.
also important, Harry lies at the end of the movie exactly as Adam found him. Adam has asked him to turn around, just as he found him.
Adam wasnt dead, the director said he wasnt , this was the best most heartbreaking film i have ever scene, andrew scott is a fantastic actor
hello where did the director say that? i thoughtit was made to bea open end / unclear
@@SSewerrratt he explained how he had heard that people were saying adam was dead but he wasnt but he thought it was great people were really thinking and coming up with their own conclusions, when adam was at the restaurant the waitress spoke to him proving he was alive, she said he was ordering a lot of food she couldnt see his mum and dad but she saw him
@@SSewerrratt to be honest it made more sense if he hadve died in fire but alas he was alive and living through the pain, i think the whole imagery in his mind was him writing his script
Then what is the purpose of the fire alarm? What's the purpose of the rotting take out and the fever? The coughing on the train? Why throw in all these needless plot points if they contribute nothing to the overall story? Also, aren't many of the people in the club also on the train?
Interesting theory. I didn't think Adam was dead. However, if Adam was dead from beginning or after fire alarm, I think this is London verson of "The others" by Nicole Kidman.
It’s so, I don’t like using the word “depressing” about Harry’s last hope at Adam’s door. It ripped my heart. It’s so much deeper than depressing.
Harry is pleading for Adam to give him one last reason to stay alive. He was rejected and died with no hope. Not one ounce of being cared for. I know that feeling.
The next time Harry is at Adam’s apartment, Adam offers him a drink and he used a very interesting throwaway line, “no, I stopped that.” That was the first major clue that Harry was dead. The second one was when Harry saw the reflections of Adam’s dead parents through the door window. Harry wasn’t scared of ghosts. It was his realization that he himself was dead but he didn’t know it until that moment.
This is beyond devastating and I love it. I fell in love with Paul Mescal all over again.
Remember the fire alarm that could be a clue 😗. The film devastated me not sure how you kept so together!
Omg been waiting for you to react to this
You should watch Drive my car and Close your eyes.
Thanks, Will! 👥 I'm sure you've read many explanations of a misinterpretation you made. But if you ever re-watch it, I imagine it'll be clearer.