A Single Man (2009)

3.5

DRAMA
U.S. Release Date: 12/11/09
Running Length: 99 Minutes
MPAA Classification: R (Nudity, Sexual Content, Profanity)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Cast: Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Matthew Goode, Nicholas Hoult
Director: Tom Ford
Screenplay: Tom Ford, David Scearce, based on the novel by Christopher Isherwood
Cinematography: Eduard Grau
Music: Abel Korzeniowski
U.S. Distributor: The Weinstein Company

Review by: Carter Moulton

2/14/10

A Single Man—and first-time—director Tom Ford is a fashion designer, and it shows. Brimming with a confident visual style, Ford’s film is a solemn picture about solitude, self-imprisonment, and loss. Loss. Loss of color. Ford desaturates English Professor George Falconer’s (Colin Firth) world to the point where once-golden hair turns grey, lushly painted walls turn to cement, and furniture turns to oatmeal. That is, until George is reminded of his recently deceased love.

Eyes, lips, blues—anything reminiscent of Jim (Matthew Goode), who, George learns via telephone, has died in an automobile accident on the way to see his mother—act as triggers. At the sight of these, George’s world is infused—by Ford—with color and oversaturation. In addition to composing beautiful-looking images, this visual style helps us, the audience, relate to a character living in an otherwise porcelain world. It is, after all, England, 1962, and George’s skinny ties, black frames, and well-fitted dress shirts only add to his detachment from us—and the world Ford creates for him.

Julianne Moore stars as Charley, George’s polar opposite. She’s desperate for emotional satisfaction; he’s running away from his emotions. The two have been good friends for decades, and even though Charley is aware of George’s homosexuality, she would love to marry George for the companionship. Moore is great, although it’s a thinner role than I had first imagined. Much of her screen time is spent preparing for George, trying to look good for him with excessive eyeliner, makeup, and a flashy hairdo. It’s sad really. This film is sad.

Photo © The Weinstein Company

In flashbacks we see George and Jim in happier times, talking over books and lying out on the beach. In the latter scene, Ford films the entire scene in crisp black and white—it’s reminiscent of an ad for cologne or perfume. The most innocent, nostalgic, simple of film forms is chosen to represent George’s unscathed happiness. But the memory can’t last forever, and George, unfortunately, returns to the present, suspended in this bland layer between classicism and bursting Technicolor—it’s too much to bear.

And so, George flirts with suicide. A Single Man as a title implies, obviously, that George is no longer in a relationship, but it also refers to his loneliness: he’s isolated, singular in the world. Firth (Bridget Jones’ Diary, Girl With A Pearl Earring) deserves an Oscar for this performance. Rarely has an actor felt so alone in a film, yet, because of Firth’s gaze, uneasy body language, and trembling spoken word, he draws us in.  No one onscreen can relate to him, but we can.

Kenny (Nicholas Hoult), a fuzzy sweater-wearing student in George’s English class, tries to provide some comfort. He supplies an intriguing element—the only such element—to George’s life. The professor-student conversations are too forward and spoken in strange tones, but a scene in which the two swim in the ocean makes Kenny’s film presence clear: he’s George’s syringe, a chance at temporary happiness.