Review

Review Date: 27-December-09
Spoiler Rating: Medium
Juju Judgment: Juicy

A Single Man (2009)

The title of Tom Ford's movie refers to the central character, a professor played by Colin Firth. But in a way it could also refer to the most important person in the professor's life, his lover of 16 years (Matthew Goode). As A Single Man opens, Firth is shown trying to work through the loss of this lover in a car crash. It does not look as if he will succeed. Each movement, each breath causes a pain that seeps from his soul into his body. He manages to get up and get dressed, go to work and lecture, and show consideration towards students, strangers, and friends. But what he really wants to do is die.

This is an undeniably heavy subject, but A Single Man is not a complete downer. Based on a book by Christopher Isherwood, the film addresses how people cope with annihilation: the inevitability (perhaps welcomed) of their own, the reality of a loved one's, and the possibility of an entire civilization's. (The story takes place over one day in the 1960s at the height of Cold War paranoia.) As is often the case when death haunts a narrative, it entails a degree of humor and a ray of light. The point emerges that there are things that make life worth living, such as moments of human connection, and if people could value these things in the present they might carry on with hope for the future.

Ford was thriving as a fashion designer before he co-wrote and directed this film, so it is not surprising that his camera pays close attention to detail. His style fits the story because the valuable moments which Firth's character remembers or encounters are essentially small (and he is a tidy Englishman at that). The actor exerts his own quiet precision as he appears to regard things with his eyes and mind. We see fond memories of his lost love and a moving scene with his best friend (Julianne Moore), a woman who cannot understand how she reached middle age with nothing to show for it except unrequited longing for a gay man. We also see interaction between Firth and people about town, notably a smitten pupil who wants to penetrate his cool facade (Nicholas Hoult). Each single person contributes to his journey, which adds up to an artful mix of melancholy, carpe diem advisory, and an example of why you should appreciate whatever happiness you have found.

Copyright © 2009 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.