A Single Man

A Single Man – 2010, Tom Ford

Colin Firth achieves every actor’s fantasy in this adaptation of Christopher Isherwood’s 1964 novel; he gets to perform a scene in which his Character, George, is alone in his home when he receives a phone call bringing bad news:

Jim, George’s lover for the last sixteen years, has died in a car crash. Jim’s cousin called to let George know, (no one else in the family wanted to call him) and what with this being 1962, gay George is not invited to the funeral.

Cue Colin Firth’s finest hour; he can sit holding the receiver, his face in screen filling close up, and react to tragic news. The faraway look, the waver in his voice, the wait before the inevitable tears, but then the restraint in not breaking down completely. It may seem cynical to accuse Firth and Ford of Oscar Baiting, but that’s just what they’re doing. It’s cheap and it detracts from the rest of the film.

The scene described above happens very early on and occurs as one of many flashbacks to George’s life with, and immediately without Jim. The film follows George over the course of one last day, at the end of which he intends to commit suicide.

After Colin Firth achieves his acting fantasy, Tom Ford’s film plays out like a morbid gay fantasy. George is an Englishman living in Southern California working as a professor of English Literature. His dear departed lover Jim was an architect who designed the incredibly tasteful house they shared. George drives a lovely Mercedes Benz and lives surrounded by all the aspects of 60’s Americana, tasteful and tacky, that will forever be in fashion.

George gets to talk to his halfwit Yankee colleagues about the cold war and the Cuban Missile crisis, which provides plenty of opportunity for witty, glib closing remarks. He mopes around sorrowfully whilst gorgeous young men throw themselves at him, but he ignores their advances. His heart is broken, and no pair of smooth, pert buttocks can fix it, not even Nicholas Hoult’s.

George hangs out and boozes with fellow ex-pat and old flame Charley (Julianne Moore aka Maude Lebowski) creating a kind of self satisfied ‘Englishman Abroad’ vibe reminiscent of Evelyn Waugh’s ‘The Loved One’ (that’s right, literary reference y’all).

Tom Ford had a clear vision and he has achieved it, but he owes a lot to the production team he worked with – the same people who work on Mad Men. A Single Man is stylishly and tastefully directed, but not as subtle as Tom thinks it is. It’s an impressive debut by a fashion designer who has obviously watched a lot of critically acclaimed European film. But the result is a film that’s too conscious of its own style. There’s not much to the story that takes place within the elegant design of the rest of the film. ‘Designed by Tom Ford’ would be amore accurate credit.

The biggest problem with the film was the dialogue. Maybe the script is taken directly from the book, and this may be how Californians spoke 50 years ago, but said out loud it sounds clichéd and unconvincing. Perhaps the soulless superficiality of it all was intended as a comment on 60’s America, but I doubt it.

The European cinema influence even extends as far as the trailer. Trailers for foreign films often do not feature dialogue to disguise the fact they are not in English.
http://mensfashionblips.dailyradar.com/video/youtube-a-single-man-2009-movie-trailer-directed-by/

And just to let you know, I though Brokeback Mountain was awesome.