Review of A Single Man (2009) by Robert Z — 01 Feb 2011

Tom Ford's debut film, A Single Man, is everything you'd hope for from the stalwart fashion designer, and a whole lot more. Not only does the film ooze with the kind of style that is, even in his debut film, distinctly 'Ford-ian', but it also reveals that Ford has a genuine talent for narrative filmmaking.

A Single Man is the story of a gay university professor, George (Colin Firth), who is trying in vain to come to terms with the tragic death of his long-term partner, Jim. Lonely and depressed, George is going through the motions of his life with no motivation or will to live. While he gains comfort from the company of his equally lonely best friend Charley (Julianne Moore), George's grief has him teetering on the brink of suicide.

With a narrative that reflects the loneliness and stagnation of its protagonist, Ford does brilliantly to flesh the film out with some wonderfully evocative imagery. The colour palette fluctuates gently between cool greys and browns to glowing reds and pinks, marking the film's shifts between the depressed limbo of George's mind to the things that he perceives as beautiful. Aside from the colour shifts, A Single Man is also filled with longing flashbacks and moments of abstraction in which we see a nude male figure struggling underwater. As well as showing off a perfectionist aestheticism, Ford uses such imagery to get us inside the tortured mind of George.

Firth's performance in A Single Man is spot on, though I expected no less considering the role seems tailor-made for him. Firth does a great job in depicting a (distinctly British) man battling to restrain his internal agony so that the world knows nothing about it. Where an average actor could have ended up depicting this desperately self-restrained character as cold and dull, Firth's performance is quietly harrowing. Julianne Moore, despite lacking screen-time, adds some welcome dynamism as George's gin-loving former lover in her few scenes, while Nick Hoult does a fine job as George's enthusiastic student who develops an ambiguous fascination with him.

At no point does A Single Man impose its power on the viewer. It is a melancholy portrait of grief, and its crippling effect on a man's life to the point that even the sound of a clock ticking becomes a painful, persistent reminder of his loneliness. The narrative, accompanied by a gentle piano soundtrack, calmly plays out to a conclusion which provides the epiphany, and the release, that both the protagonist and the viewer ultimately need. A Single Man is a sombre film that ends on a poignant note of hopefulness in life's beauty, and also the hope that this is a sign of things to come from Tom Ford.