Fashion designer, Tom Ford made his wisest decisions ever when he optioned the rights to Christopher Isherwood’s A Single Man. Adapting the novel to include some of his own life experiences, Ford’s directorial debut is exceptionally good. This is a film with both exquisite design and touching sentiment.
Set in Cuban-missile paranoid 1962 LA, the film follows one day in English professor, George Falconer’s (Colin Firth) life. This day has been picked by George for his highly organised suicide. Utterly heartbroken after the death of his partner, Jim (Matthew Goode) 8 months earlier, George is overwhelmed by loneliness. The men’s deep connection is shown in flashbacks, as little things remind George of his lover throughout the day.
A Single Man buzzes with an alluring sensuality. Ford is a man used to making people look good, a skill he has transferred to film. Together with his director of photography, Eduard Grau, Ford has painstakingly composed each shot into a tiny masterpiece. Plush with visual artistry, the film uses colour intensity and tones to illustrate despair, wonder and excitement. The small role of Carlos (Jon Kortajarena), encapsulates Ford’s aesthetic with the vibrancy of colours increasing as both George and the camera admire the divine Spanish hustler.
A Single Man examines identity and invisibility, notions which permeate the homosexual experience. The idea of a social mask is explored through Kenny (Nicholas Hoult), one of George’s students. Drawn to his professor, Kenny is someone focused on the future, something George finds incomprehensible.
Firth perfectly captures George’s aching devastation masked by a British stiff upper lip. His stylishly nuanced performance is deserving of its Oscar nomination. While it is refreshing to see a homosexual love story on film, its themes are not tied to sexual preference. Charley (the fabulous Julianne Moore), an aging beauty, suffers a similar loneliness to George, her best friend.
A Single Man is a cinematic match made in heaven of director and material. Ford has created a visual wonder with such gorgeous care and attention paid to every scene that is it simply impossible not to be transfixed.
4/5
Set in Cuban-missile paranoid 1962 LA, the film follows one day in English professor, George Falconer’s (Colin Firth) life. This day has been picked by George for his highly organised suicide. Utterly heartbroken after the death of his partner, Jim (Matthew Goode) 8 months earlier, George is overwhelmed by loneliness. The men’s deep connection is shown in flashbacks, as little things remind George of his lover throughout the day.
A Single Man buzzes with an alluring sensuality. Ford is a man used to making people look good, a skill he has transferred to film. Together with his director of photography, Eduard Grau, Ford has painstakingly composed each shot into a tiny masterpiece. Plush with visual artistry, the film uses colour intensity and tones to illustrate despair, wonder and excitement. The small role of Carlos (Jon Kortajarena), encapsulates Ford’s aesthetic with the vibrancy of colours increasing as both George and the camera admire the divine Spanish hustler.
A Single Man examines identity and invisibility, notions which permeate the homosexual experience. The idea of a social mask is explored through Kenny (Nicholas Hoult), one of George’s students. Drawn to his professor, Kenny is someone focused on the future, something George finds incomprehensible.
Firth perfectly captures George’s aching devastation masked by a British stiff upper lip. His stylishly nuanced performance is deserving of its Oscar nomination. While it is refreshing to see a homosexual love story on film, its themes are not tied to sexual preference. Charley (the fabulous Julianne Moore), an aging beauty, suffers a similar loneliness to George, her best friend.
A Single Man is a cinematic match made in heaven of director and material. Ford has created a visual wonder with such gorgeous care and attention paid to every scene that is it simply impossible not to be transfixed.
4/5
