A Single Man

After months, I have finally got around to watching A Single Man.

Nicholas Hoult

A Single Man is the directional debut of fashion designer Tom Ford, based on the novel of the same name by Christopher Isherwood. Colin Firth plays a gay English professor living in San Francisco in 1962. The film details a few days in the life of Firth as he struggles to come to grips with the death of his partner in a car accident. Firth is helped by his lonely, long since ex-partner, Julianne Moore, and finds a new friend in one of his English students, Nicholas Hoult.

Personally, I think the story portrayed in this film is quite interesting, and there is some excellent acting to be seen (Firth and Hoult in particular). However, it must be qualified that this film was visually designed. Every frame is styled and co-ordinated, worthy of a photograph. It seems as if every palette, every colour was individually selected, and chosen to be displayed. The emotions of the protagonist are ingeniously displayed in unapologetic clarity by varied colour tones, with his moods corresponding to a scale from grey to warm.

Colin Firth

Ford also does some interesting work with the sound of the film. In a couple of rainy perspectives, and similarly in a shot from behind a window, there exists a harsh and truly realistic lack of sound and inability to hear what can be seen so clearly. On another note (excuse the pun), the film's score is magnificent. The rise and fall of the emotional ideas are wonderfully accompanied by elegant strings and woodwinds.

The story progresses to an ending which, I must admit, I am still undecided upon. From one point it can be seen as a complex end to a difficult tale, and yet from the opposite it seems oversimplified and almost rushed. That aside, the conclusion does little in terms of deducting from the overall quality and appearance of the film. This has to be the most visually stunning film I have ever seen. I look forward to re-watching it and savouring every still.

A Single Man
4/5