Artina Films, Fade To Black Productions and The Weinstein Company

Written By: Tom Ford and David Scearce, adapted from a novel by Christopher Isherwood

Fashion designer Tom Ford’s directorial film debut, “A Single Man” is an uncompromising view into one person’s love for another and the heartbreak in losing the person you envision spending the rest of your life with. Although Ford can be criticized for indulging in a few too many artistic flourishes, “A Single Man” is an absorbing watch, powered by a career defining performance from long-time British character actor, Colin Firth, and strong supporting work from Julianne Moore, Nicholas Hoult, and Matthew Goode, as the love of George’s life for 16 years, Jim.

Set on a singular late-November day in Los Angeles in 1962, “A Single Man” introduces us to English professor, George Falconer (Colin Firth), who earlier that same year lost his partner, Jim (Matthew Goode), to a tragic car accident in Colorado when Jim went home to visit his family. Unable to ever fully recover from the loss and not allowed to attend Jim’s funeral by Jim’s family, George has decided that the time has come to end his pain and ease his broken heart. Without Jim, George has no more inspiration left for work, friends, or colleagues, and feels literally nothing for seemingly anything or anyone. His long-time friend, Charley (Julianne Moore), has grown to exhaust George with her growing neediness and ramped up expectations that she and George can return to London and spend their final years together. George was comfortable, out (with reservations), deeply in love, and found life’s fulfillment in reading a book or listening to records with Jim, with their dogs asleep at their feet. With all of that gone, George wants out and aches to return to a place where he can be with Jim.

Watching “A Single Man”, I simply ran out of adjectives in describing Colin Firth’s performance. Firth immerses himself in George Falconer, constructing him from the inside out. Incorporating subtle facial expressions, projecting a weary but determined bark to those near and around him, George keeps his guard up and up very high. Driving much of George’s despair is that he has never been able to share his pain, grief, and loss with anyone, because his relationship with Jim, in 1962, and even in many circles today in 2009, would be ignored, disregarded, even viewed as abhorrent. Firth’s performance ascends to greatness when that distinct vulnerability George is so tired of suppressing begins to emerge. To Tom Ford’s directorial credit, much of he and David Scearce’s screenplay masks when those vulnerabilities will appear.

Emptying a safety deposit box with a cold and callous manner, George stops at one item, regroups, and then is frozen in time by a provocative photograph of Jim. A fun evening with Charley leads to the disclosure that Charley never believed that George and Jim really were, or ever could truly be, in love like she was in her failed marriage. Perhaps most revealing is the attraction a doe-eyed and curious student, Kenny (Nicholas Hoult), has for George. George and Jim were separated by 15-20 years in age, and George, now near 50, has drawn the 20-something Kenny’s interest, as Kenny is trying to find the courage and strength to be comfortably out for the first time. As flashbacks imply, George draws a causal link between Kenny and his meeting of Jim – only time and circumstances have aged George to the point where he has no idea whether he can even follow through on the potential opportunities which seemingly exist before him.

Tom Ford is an astute filmmaker, with a tremendous eye for mood, atmosphere, and style; expectant of one with his pedigree of success in the fashion world. In future films, perhaps Ford can iron out the tendency to linger on symbolism without ever truly defining its meaning, tempering down the melodramatic score which at times distracts from this film, and allowing the final sequences to live and breathe a bit more. With its somewhat sudden conclusion, you can look past the other flaws if you are going to have the film hit thematic consistency. Unfortunately, Ford rushes through the final scenes and as the credits roll, I felt the final moments discordant with the rest of the film.

Held together by strong technical savvy and great performances all the way through, “A Single Man”‘s sad and melancholy plot will leave some distant and cold to it, but I found it well worth the time spent, even with its flaws.

• Best Actor In A Leading Role (Colin Firth)

Should I See It?

For Colin Firth’s award-worthy performance. Rich in nuance and controlled rage, sorrow, and vulnerability, he has clearly never been better.

This is one of the more well-made debut films by a first-time filmmaker in a long time and could be the first step in a successful film career for Tom Ford.

Rest assured, this is not a preachy film – far from it. The fact is that this is a love story and drama is first and foremost and a rather effectively told one at that.

NO

There are sequences in the film which tend to drift to an art-house sensibility, which may prove confusing and maybe even come off as pretentious to the viewer.

The frank and honest truth is that the subject matter is going to drive some people away. As sad as that may make me personally, if this doesn’t seem interesting to you, it is just not going to be – great acting or not.

I can see people watching the film, seeing its conclusion, and rationalizing as to what the point of it all was. Not my take, but I see the potential reaction existing.