Written by Tom Ford And David Scearce
Directed by Tom Ford
George: "You know that only thing that has made the whole thing worthwhile has been those few times that I was able to truly connect with another person."
Okay, now this was a film that I watched once a long time ago but yesterday I felt compelled to revisit it. I'm a fan of Colin Firth and this was something of a tour de force for him.
This movie focused on Firth playing an English college professor named George Falconer. He's a man who suffered the loss of his long term partner, Jim (Matthew Goode). The latter died in a car accident and George hasn't been able to move past it.
Throughout the film, there's several flashbacks that helped flesh out George and Jim's relationship. They met at a party and immediately clicked. They had a time on the beach discussing George's sassy friend, Charlotte Roberts (Julianne Moore), whom George referred to as Charley among other times together. George and Jim genuinely seemed like they were in love.
George's relationship with Charley felt like the archetype of the classic gay man/straight woman friendship. They smoke fancy cigarettes, get drunk on posh booze and talk very freely with one another. It's a fun relationship but a misstep from Charley about Jim nearly ruined things between her and George. Fortunately for Charley, she was able to walk it back.
Then there was George's relationship with his student, Kenny Potter (Nicholas Hoult). The latter made it his mission to spend time with George outside of class and George did nothing to discourage that. Saying that, there was a purpose to Kenny's insertion into George's life.
George had spent of a lot of the film planning to commit suicide but it was spending time with Kenny that got him to feel again. George's eventual death was far more poignant and a better way of ending the film.
- The movie was based on a story by Christopher Isherwood of the same name.
- Jim didn't approve of George smoking and was going to visit his mother on the day he died. One of the dogs also died with him.
- Standout music: Serge Gainsbourg's Le Serpent qui Danse.
- Chronology: November 30th 1962 in Los Angeles. It was the day after the Cuban Missile Crisis.
A Single Man was a lovely debut from Tom Ford. A great adaptation of one of Christopher Isherwood's works and strong performances from Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Matthew Goode and Nicholas Hoult to boot.
Rating: 8 out of 10
