A directorial debut for outstanding fashion designer Tom Ford gives us "A Single Man," a film so gorgeous, so impeccable that it sometimes looks like an ad for Gucci, where Ford spent many years as creative director. But actor Colin Firth, equally impeccable, offers a dazzling performance as George, the title character, still mourning and dreaming about his lover and partner, Jim, dead after an auto crash. The movie opens today.
Ford also wrote the screenplay, based on Christopher Isherwood's 1964 novel, a seminal work in gay literature that Isherwood later described as his favorite novel. Both book and movie cover a single day in George's life, opening with a scene that symbolizes both life and death. Set in 1962, during the Cuban missle crisis, we hear the crackly voices of news announcers from time to time, opening a window on the world.
An Englishman who lives in Los Angeles (as Isherwood did), George faces the same pressures as any person — gay or straight — who suddenly loses a long-time partner. Where does one look for the companionship, sex, understanding that has been an integral part of living? Firth is brilliant, teaching about Aldous Huxley to a large class of mostly uninterested students, flirting a little with one of them (Nicholas Hoult), even more with a sexy street hustler (Jon Kortajarena), but feeling comfortable with his long-time friend, Charley, played with her typical style by Julianne Moore.
Jim shows up in flashbacks from time to time, a believable portrayal by Matthew Goode, but the scenes only exacerbate George's loneliness, made more so through the superior cinematography directed by Eduard Grau.
"A Single Man" is not a happy movie, but it is a superior film, highlighted by Firth's strong, steady work; at the same time, Ford's debut as a director shows real talent, at least while looking inside a character.
Opens today at the Plaza Frontenac
–Joe