Review of A Single Man (2009) by Jessy L — 08 Jul 2011

It's always enjoyable to see the critics split over certain subject material, bringing out true colors where none shown before. In this instance, most sided that this was too bleak for their tastes, a maudlin film with inventive camera work and a performance from Firth that was both clinical and risqué.

What sets this film apart from most people's views of stylized or lackluster, is not just the dramatic angles and dream sequences, but what Firth brings to the table; basically the entire causality of events.

Firth makes this film, his grief over his lover contained within his frosty exterior, each scene revealing another layer to his onion. As Firth bounces from flashback, to a moment of clarity, back to his dire present, the range of emotion flits across his face, hope never diminishing because it was never there to begin with.

Most people were thrown by the random scenes with Firth and several people which were not particularly necessary for the plot, but if you watch each scene, truly grasping the difficulty of keeping clandestine affairs a secret while also mourning true love without giving away that you were intertwined in the first place, it brings the movie home.

Better than the King's Speech and worthy of as much praise as possible, this is Firth's best performance to date and one of my personal favorites.