Fashion designer Tom Ford has impeccable taste. In the past, he has breathed new life into such brands as Gucci and Yves St. Laurent, and now he has taken a break from haute couture to direct, co-write, and co-produce his first film. A Single Man could have easily been a disastrous vanity project, but, surprisingly, it’s a beautiful meditation on loneliness, mortality, and love that has Oscar written all over it.
Adapted from a Christopher Isherwood novel of the same name, the film is set in Los Angeles in 1962 during the escalation of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Our protagonist, George Falconer, is a gay college professor who is navigating the fall-out from the death of his lover of 16 years as well as the overall sense of doom and uncertainty of the time period. The audience is immediately given full access to his inner sanctum — his mind is cluttered with painful flashbacks of better times, while he maintains appearances to a neurotic degree (impeccably pressed suits and an immaculate living space). We follow him through his morning rituals, but soon learn that what’s different about this particular day is that George has decided it will be his last.
Quite heavy material for someone like Colin Firth, who is best known for fluffy fare (Mamma Mia!) and playing different versions of Mr. Darcy (the BBC’s Pride & Prejudice, Bridget Jones’ Diary). To be honest, I didn’t expect much of Firth, but I was wrong. Dead wrong. I never once saw Colin Firth the actor on the screen, only the raw suffering of his character. He’s already won the best actor award at the Venice Film Festival and I would be surprised if he didn’t go on to win many more awards, maybe even the most prized gold statue of them all.
