What a movie! May I repeat, what a movie!!! I have to admit that I was a little skeptical when it came to the idea of former fashion designer Tom Ford directing what many thought was a vanity piece, but I amongst many have been proved wrong to ever doubt. The film, based on the novel by Christopher Isherwood of the same name, is not only a strong story about the inner workings of a depressed and alone English scholar’s mind after the death of his partner but the directing and style of the film are what make it such a masterpiece. Colin Firth in the lead role has garnered much attention and nominations for awards and with good reason as well, but I have to say that Tom Ford’s directing steals the show for me and with Eduard Grau behind the camera I feel like there is nothing they cannot accomplish. A Single Man was nominated for the Golden Lion at the 66th Venice International Film Festival but was somehow defeated in the end, but at least Colin Firth was awarded the Coppa Volpi as Best Actor at the same fest. Firth continued to rack up cred as he got a best actor nomination at the past Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild awards and he is also nominated in the upcoming Academy Awards as well. And for good reason. Music plays a huge role in the film as well so it is fitting that Abel Korzeniowski was also nominated for a Golden Globe for best original score (not to be outdone Julianne Moore got a nomination at the same ceremony for best supporting actress). Anyways, enough gushing about awards that in the end don’t really mean anything besides the fact that everyone might make a little more money on their next run out, and onto the meat and potatoes about what makes A Single Man an instant classic.
November 30, 1962. A month after the Cuban missile crisis, George Falconer (Colin Firth) is mourning the death of his partner Jim (Matthew Goode) after he crashed his car while visiting family up north. Jim’s family was not too keen on the homosexual relationship that he was having with George so he was not invited to the funeral despite saying that he would immediately fly from Los Angeles to attend, and this obviously left an even larger gaping hole in George’s heart. Eight months have now passed and the English Professor Falconer has struggled to find meaning in his life since. The film itself takes place from morning to night in just one day (but includes flashbacks) of George’s life as he plots his own suicide.
There are numerous references to floating in water and to a heart problem that George may be suffering from leaving the audience thinking that maybe his ailment or a poor decision while swimming may take his life but George has other things in mind. The first thing we see in his day is his dream of laying beside his lover Jim’s dead body on the side of a snowy highway only to find him wake up with a jump. George then begins his day in his usual melancholy manner, making plans to have dinner with his best friend Charlotte (Julianne Moore) and moseying on to work where he will teach a number of students who don’t really seem able to keep up with his level of intelligence. One student named Lois looks exactly like Bridgitte Bardot back in the ’60s and I wonder if that was done on purpose by Ford. The opera and classical music score of the film accompany George and his thoughts throughout most of the day as he kind of drifts in-and-out of existence. In a flashback to the night he received the phone call hearing of Jim death, George runs to his friend Charlotte’s (Charley) house in the rain to sob and tell her the news. Tom Ford’s decision to leave out the dialogue and only focus on the sound of the rain as he falls into her arms at her doorstep was a stroke of genius as we all knew what he was going to say, and this only heightened our experience of empathy for his grief. Another stylistic choice of Ford was to keep George’s whole world in kind of a pale grey palette only to warm up the colours in the film when he experiences moments of happiness. When George has a conversation with a young girl or eyes another young man (Carlos played by Jon Kortajarena) the colour of the film smoothly transitions into a warm sunny feel as opposed to the grey side of his usual life. I found this to be very clever and not gimmicky as some may.
When George flirts with death, Jim appears to him which marks his near entrance into “heaven” but this is done in such a wonderfully subtle way that I feel could only be done by Tom Ford. Left to someone like Lee Daniels, this film would have failed at such beautiful subtleties. He also creates one of the most hilarious suicide attempt scenes ever created, which sounds rather dark I know, but upon viewing it for yourself you will understand. George is a bit of a perfectionist in the way he dresses and the way he keeps his house (entirely made of glass, yes kind of strange) and he could not figure out a way to shoot himself without leaving a big bloody mess afterwards. He rearranges his body on his bed while pointing a gun in his mouth in such a humourous manner that when he finally decides to do it while zipped into a sleeping bag the entire audience could not contain itself anymore and the whole auditorium burst with laughter. He is then saved by a phone call from Charley who he decides to visit one last time before his death. The scene with Charley is an interesting one as not only does George seem genuinely happy in her company, but we learn that the two of them once had a bit of a relationship before George realized that he was capable of falling in love with men. Charley unfortunately never got over him and still wishes that he could love her the way she continues to love him. This creates a nice stand-off between the two friends mid film.
If there is one downside to this film it is not the style as most critics will tell you. The biggest knock on A Single Man is that fashion designer turned director Tom Ford made everything in this film far too stylish and it takes away from the realness of it all. I only noticed how well George was dressed or how cool his house was or how clean his shoes and car are because I was looking for it all the time. Yes everything is very stylish in a 1962 kind of way but by no means does it take away from the film. I would say the biggest drawback is the character Kenny played by Nicholas Hoult. Kenny is a student (who is dating the Bardot look alike) who is secretly gay is 
comes onto his professor George Falconer. The exchanges between the two are fine and it is an okay final chapter to the film but it is the acting of Hoult that kills me. He will appear in the upcoming films Clash of the Titans and the new Mad Max, so you can see him there if you missed this one. I thought for sure he had to be a model that Ford once worked with and threw into this role because he was simply no good and that is too bad. Good thing Colin Firth was able to carry all the scenes solo as Hoult just looked like George W. Bush once did while reading off of teleprompters most of the time. Looks wise though, he did fit the bill well as George’s young gay admirer and once written by Isherwood.
Overall I have to say that I enjoyed this movie as much as my “movie of the month” A Prophet because Colin Firth is so excellent and Tom Ford is going to be one hell of a director to watch out for in the future. The reason it misses out marginally to Audiard’s film is because of the final act with Nicholas Hoult I believe. But hopefully Ford can continue outdoing himself as he has no problem financing films as he is already personally very wealthy, and apparently got the phone numbers for actors simply by asking friends of his like Tom Hanks. So he should never have much trouble getting more brilliant work like this done. Wow. Hats off.
Jared Mercer
Trailer.
Clip from the film. **George meeting Carlos outside a convenient store and having a small lapse of infatuation with the young Spaniard. This is an example of the colour change I have been referring to. See how it gets warmer when he starts looking at the man’s mouth.