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Colin Firth gives the performance of a lifetime in A Single Man, a drama directed and adapted for the screen by fashion designer Tom Ford, who clearly has a deft vision and ability in the world of film as well. A Single Man is based on a novel by Christopher Isherwood, and Ford's--and Firth's--gift is bringing the inner-turmoil world of the novel to believable, and devastating, life on the screen. Firth may be best known as a dashing romantic-comedy hero (Pride and Prejudice, the Bridget Jones films), but in A Single Man he demonstrates nuance and depth that will stay with the viewer long after the film is over. Firth plays George, a gay British professor, living a life of true, if closeted, bliss with his partner, Jim (Matthew Goode), in the straitlaced early '60s. When Jim dies suddenly at the beginning of the film, George wrestles with how to go on without his true love--and with never being able ever to express his grief openly. The film flashes back to scenes of George and Jim and their dogs, scenes awash in warm tones, and then forward to the present, shot in subtle sepia tones that show joy has disappeared from George's life. Yet there are flashes of hope and feeling: one brief scene--showing George's seeing a dog similar to one the couple had owned, and drawing his face close to the dog's for a familiar and comforting scent--lasts but a moment yet resonates that grief and loss are felt the same by everyone, no matter what they have lost. A Single Man's cast also includes Julianne Moore, playing a complex role as George's best friend and long-ago lover--one of the only people on the planet who can know all that George is going through, yet with vast vulnerabilities of her own. Nicholas Hoult plays a student who reaches out to George, saying, "I guess I just thought you looked like you could use a friend." But it's Firth who triumphs in the film, and who drives the complex emotions--all true, all rewarding--that hold A Single Man aloft and give it its impact. A Single Man can hold its own against Brokeback Mountain as a story of love and loss that transcends any single genre. --A.T. Hurley
Customer Reviews
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5 of 7 people found the following review helpful
By Kona
TOP 100 REVIEWER
The year is 1962, and George (Colin Firth), a quiet college professor, is about to kill himself. His lover has died and George has calmly decided that he cannot bear to live another day alone. He teaches a class, puts his papers in order, sees his best friend, and is ready to go. Then, one of his students interrupts his plan.
This very intimate, somber, arty film has a good script and good actors. Firth gives a wonderful performance as a man who welcomes death; his expressive eyes speak volumes about George's pain. Julianne Moore looks like Ann-Margret with a questionable British accent and is really annoying in a small role. Nicholas Hoult is excellent as the student who makes George think there may be a reason to live after all.
The director uses constant flashbacks and stylized photography and changing colors to make his emotional points and I think it all comes across as a bit heavy-handed, as does the Bernard Herrmann-esque soundtrack. It's a wonderful, delicate story that could very well have stood on its own without the special effects or music that reminds one of "Vertigo." Recommended if you're looking for a thoughtful, quiet film with the message of "appreciate every moment."
This very intimate, somber, arty film has a good script and good actors. Firth gives a wonderful performance as a man who welcomes death; his expressive eyes speak volumes about George's pain. Julianne Moore looks like Ann-Margret with a questionable British accent and is really annoying in a small role. Nicholas Hoult is excellent as the student who makes George think there may be a reason to live after all.
The director uses constant flashbacks and stylized photography and changing colors to make his emotional points and I think it all comes across as a bit heavy-handed, as does the Bernard Herrmann-esque soundtrack. It's a wonderful, delicate story that could very well have stood on its own without the special effects or music that reminds one of "Vertigo." Recommended if you're looking for a thoughtful, quiet film with the message of "appreciate every moment."
By Tommy D
TOP 50 REVIEWER
I had put off seeing this as there had been so much hype around it, that I felt it would not be able to live up to it all. I was happily proven wrong. This beautiful film is set in 1962, with the backdrop of the Cuban missile crisis and the first real societal awakening to the global threat of nuclear war. Whilst some people feel that man kind could be coming to an end, George (University Professor in California) played brilliantly by Colin Firth, has just lost his one true love in his boyfriend and can not see a reason to live.
His boyfriend Jim dies in a car accident whilst visiting his parents and they do not even tell him about it. He is denied from attending the service and has to cope with living when he feels dead inside, eking out enough emotional strength through memories to sustain day to day existence. He has a best friend, who like him is an ex pat Brit Julianne Moore. She was and clearly is still in love with him and finds her strength in gin and the forlorn hope of a love rekindled with George.
Some would call this lyrically paced, but I found it just moved along at the right speed to savour the whole thing. It is beautifully shot and stage, evoking the era in such a clear way that I got that it was the sixties immediately. There is so much attention to detail that you can tell it was a real labour of love. Tom Ford has made a film he can truly be proud of and we can be grateful to him. I often get miffed when straight actors play gay ones, when there are so many gay actors who never get a look in. However, acting is acting and if a good actor like Firth can do such an excellent job and thereby bring more attention to such a great work and story as this, then I have no problem.
This is a truly beautiful film, with style, humour and a study in human frailty through emotions and love that I found both moving and could really empathise with. Thoroughly recommend it.
His boyfriend Jim dies in a car accident whilst visiting his parents and they do not even tell him about it. He is denied from attending the service and has to cope with living when he feels dead inside, eking out enough emotional strength through memories to sustain day to day existence. He has a best friend, who like him is an ex pat Brit Julianne Moore. She was and clearly is still in love with him and finds her strength in gin and the forlorn hope of a love rekindled with George.
Some would call this lyrically paced, but I found it just moved along at the right speed to savour the whole thing. It is beautifully shot and stage, evoking the era in such a clear way that I got that it was the sixties immediately. There is so much attention to detail that you can tell it was a real labour of love. Tom Ford has made a film he can truly be proud of and we can be grateful to him. I often get miffed when straight actors play gay ones, when there are so many gay actors who never get a look in. However, acting is acting and if a good actor like Firth can do such an excellent job and thereby bring more attention to such a great work and story as this, then I have no problem.
This is a truly beautiful film, with style, humour and a study in human frailty through emotions and love that I found both moving and could really empathise with. Thoroughly recommend it.
3 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By Dave and Joe
TOP 50 REVIEWER
Isherwood's 'A Single Man' was a novel that took courage to write. Ford's 'A Single Man' is a movie that took courage to make. Firth has never been better, this film demanded of him things that required genius. He has to telegraph feelings by movement and by expression - the most important words in this film are the ones he doesn't say. I found the book to be powerful and moving when I first read it years and years ago. I approached the film with some fear, what would they do to this lovely story - the answer? They told it well.
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