February 14, 2010: A Single Man
Hollywood is perhaps inadvertently confusing the idle moviegoer, as it has been known to do in the past, by putting out two very different movies with similar titles around the same time. I have previously reviewed A Serious Man, the latest from the Coen brothers and a quirky 1960s-set film about a guy. A Single Man, on the other hand, is a stylish 1960s-set film about a guy.
The directorial debut of clothing designer Tom Ford, A Single Man looks at the hidden pain of a Los Angeles man in the early 1960s whose partner of 16 years has recently died in a car crash. That era being what it was, and his partner having been a man, George (played by Colin Firth) is not permitted to attend the “family-only” funeral service, he cannot express his grief or even the fact that anything is wrong to anyone aside from his one close friend, and he is perilously close to taking his own life. It’s hard to go on after the death of your life partner, and even harder to try to heal when you aren’t allowed to admit that you’re hurt. Great stuff for Valentine’s Day.
George is a college professor lecturing in literature, and makes veiled allusions to persecution and invisible minorities, to the discomfort of some of his students. However, his comments resonate with one popular young student, who makes an effort to get to know the secretive professor, and having someone to which he can open up helps George to come down off the precipice.
The core story here is a powerful one, and it’s well-told in bold strokes by first-time director Ford. But on top of that, this movie has style to spare, with brilliant imagery and strong manipulation of colours to control the mood. Ford is not afraid to bring homosexual love and even lust to the forefront, reveling in sensual imagery which is almost jarringly intimate as the camera hugs the curves of a man swimming underwater or young men playing tennis outside. It was striking for me to realize that this is exactly the same treatment that women get on film all the time. I was not uncomfortable, but I was much more aware than I normally am, of this sexualization of the human form.
A Single Man is a powerful film and one which is painted brightly on a broad canvas, on the scale of the emotion George feels but is not allowed to express. See it for Firth’s Oscar-nominated intensity, Ford’s effortless style, and the fascinating (if a bit in-your-face) 1962 period design details.
Compelling tale of love and loss.
Post a Comment