Review of A Single Man (2009) by Antonius B — 19 Jun 2017

This is a quiet, somber, and loving film, plumbing the depths of grief after the loss of one's partner in life. Colin Firth is an English professor whose partner, played by Matthew Goode, has died in a car accident. He is consoled by his friend (Julianne Moore), but is having a lot of trouble snapping out of his despondency. It's a strong cast and Firth and Moore in particular turn in great performances.

The beauty of the film, just as in life, is in all of its little moments. Firth's relationship with Goode is told in brief, touching flashbacks, which feel like real memories. A student's (Nicholas Hoult) attraction to him is told very subtly, in the eyes. Firth is morose, but shaken out of his routine and contemplating life and death, takes the opportunity to tell people kind things, the things he normally wouldn't have expressed. He also recognizes those singular moments in life when one sees with absolute clarity, and the way director Tom Ford tells us this is touching and profound.

The fact that the people involved in this story are gay is secondary, although it is nice that the movie shows us these relationships are like any other, and the painful consequences of societal rejection. In a heartbreaking scene, Firth's character is not allowed to attend his partner of 16 years' funeral because it's for """family only""", but Ford exercises the perfect amount of restraint, and doesn't dwell on this any further. While teaching his class, Firth describes irrational fear as the motivating factor behind hatred of minorities, something heightened when a minority is invisible and walking among us. He's of course alluding to homosexuality, but how appropriate this general message is in 2017, when the outcome of fear has been so clearly felt in U.S. politics.