Directed by Tom Ford and launched in 2009, the excellent A Single Man was adapted from the eponymous 1964 novel by Christopher Isherwood (1904-1986).
The film explores themes of love, less, life as a gay man, and a sense of mortality. It’s a great film with excellent performances from its lead actors—Colin Firth and Julianne Moore.
A Single Man and the Effects of Grief and Prejudice
The plot is set in November 1962 and follows the life of George Falconer (Firth) who’s an English professor in LA.
It’s eight months since the death of his long-term partner Jim, who died in a car accident, and stricken with grief he’s suffering nightmares.
To overcome his mental burden, he’s decided to commit suicide as he feels his life has become more a continuous performance than meaningful existence.
His friend Charlotte Roberts (Moore) calls him and they have a conversation, the pair of them locked in some morose state of affairs.
During the day, his student Kenny Potter (Nicholas Hoult) breaks the boundaries of student-teacher laws by showing an interest in Falconer.
And he provides his usual lectures, in a rather monotone fashion.
Later that night Roberts (an alcoholic) arrives at his home for a meal.
The two get semi-drunk and start dancing around the place, enjoying a close relationship bordering on romance.
Tipsy, Roberts expresses her frustration that Falconer doesn’t want any deeper relationship with her than just friends.
She also vents about her inability to comprehend his relationship with Jim.
A very frustrated Falconer is angered. After his friend leaves, he heads out to a bar and finds that his student Kenny is there. He invites his student home and the pair drink, go skinny dipping in the nearby sea, and the professor passes out.
The next day he finds Kenny has fallen asleep holding Falconer’s gun, which he’d intended to end things with the previous night (Kenny having stumbled across his professor’s suicide note).
Falconer has an epiphany and decides he wishes to live. His explanation is he has once again learned how:
“To feel, rather than think.”
However, as the film closes he suffers a sudden heart attack and has visions of Jim as he embraces his final moments alive.
And that is A Single Man.
It was unusual to see a mainstream film demonstrate a melancholic, complex character study. We think of Nic Cage in Leaving Las Vegas (1995) as another dark and realistic portrayal, but it’s still rare to see major films like this tackle
The story is about a man who’s had enough and wants to end it all.
As a study of bereavement, in subtle fashion, it’s Colin Firth’s outstanding performance that gives it total authenticity. Whilst Julianne Moore is also terrific as the morose beauty with a conflicted state of mind, Firth leads the film convincingly.
The film’s cinematography is also outstanding, bringing back to life the 1960s and a sense of freedom along the coast of LA.
At 100 minutes its pitch-perfect in its delivery, leaving a lasting impression. And we feel it deserves revisiting 14 years on as arguably Firth’s finest ever performance.
The Production of A Single Man
Tom Ford is also a famous American fashion designer and this was his directorial debut. An extremely accomplished one it was, too.
Ford financed the film by himself (the budget was $7 million) with a production time of just 21 days between November and December 2008. The film earned $25 million at the global box office and was critically acclaimed.
A personal project for Ford he even used his dog (India) at the time to act as George Falconer’s.
Although it didn’t win any major awards other than the Queer Lion at the 66th Venice International Film Festival (for the best LGBT themes of gay culture in cinema).
Colin Firth was branching out with his acting around 2008 and found wider international success thanks to his efforts in A Single Man.
The King’s Speech followed in 2010 and elevated him to one of Hollywood’s most in demand actors. Although the method acting for that role did leave him with a brief speech impediment.
Firth and Moore aside, we must again credit Tom Ford for taking a bold risk as a first time director and absolutely nailing it immediately.
In 2016 he directed Nocturnal Animals (a neo-noir psychological thriller, which was also reasonably well received. But since then he seems set to work primarily as a fashion designer.
