Film on the Square
A Single Man

Friday 16th October Vue 5 and 7
Saturday 17th October NFT1
Monday 19th October NFT1

Limited US release: 11th December*

What springs to mind when I think of Colin Firth is obvious, one cannot help but think of Mr Darcy and THAT scene of him in a drenched white shirt clinging to his body; an image forever seared in the minds of middle-aged British women. But Firth has somewhat become a stock character, largely known for playing characters quintessentially English in their aloofness, bumbling emotional reservation and proclamations, stiff upper lips and sexually repressed ardor. In fashion designer Tom Ford’s directorial debut, A Single Man, Firth is still quintessentially English in his portrayal of literature professor George Falconer, but in this seemingly unlikely role, he produces something quite unexpected.

“A Single Man” is an adaptation of Christopher Isherwood’s 1964 novel about a gay English professor in LA coping with the sudden death of his partner of sixteen years. Nursing a hurt that time has yet to (and unable to) heal, George plans his suicide in the same meticulous and flawless manner he conducts his daily life. As his death nears, life’s banalities fade from the lonely mourning grays to a new-found appreciation for life coloured in a subliminal saturation of 60s Technicolor.

With Ford taking the helm, there is much to be expected of the former Gucci creative director, and he spectacularly delivers the only way he know how, seamlessly and stylistically. From the visuals to the set designer, and Firth himself (dressed in a Tom Ford suit, naturally), Ford deftly directs the film as he would a fashion shot or catwalk, elegantly bringing his highly idiosyncratic aesthetic and modern (homo)eroticism to 60s retro that, visually, it wouldn’t be out of place on the cover of Vogue Homme or Wallpaper magazine. But the visual indulgence also reveals substance beneath the streamlined façade, approaching the novel’s adaptation with an poignant honesty and evoking complex emotions, such as George’s journey from despair to transfiguration, with authenticity.

Firth is superlative and affecting as George, and if Dame Judi Dench is worthy of an Oscar for 8 minutes in Shakespeare in love then Firth is more than worthy for a particular stand out moment in the film. In the flashback to the fateful telephone call in which he told of his partner Jim’s (Matthew Goode) death, in the camera’s unflinching inert gaze on his face as his world crumbles, Firth produces a truly devastating, draining and emotive piece of acting. Praiseworthy also is Nicholas Hoult – producing a surprisingly good Californian accent -, as George’s literature student, Kenny, who seems to be stalking George and forms a seemingly dubious relationship him. Julianne Moore’s Charlotte – a lonely, gin-dependent, fellow Brit – is inconsequential, other than as a contrast between a crumbling straight empty relationship and a lasting and meaningful homosexual partnership, but effective in her supporting role nevertheless.

For a debut, Ford’s visual distinction and spot-on adaptation speaks of someone with a self-assured confidence and feel for cinema. Yet there is no denying that A Single Man is an appropriate debut material for Ford, his delicate character study is in everyway an extension of Ford’s identity and visual. One looks forward to the follow-up, but A Single Man commendably announces Tom Ford, the filmmaker. But it is Firth’s portrayal of an elegant private man that takes centre stage, and hopefully will be rewarded come award season.

Subject to change*