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| Stars Colin Firth and Julianne Moore look stylish on the poster for Tom Ford's A Single Man |
1962: George is struggling with grief after his partner Jim's death. While the Cuba crisis is threatening world peace outside, George wants to shoot himself. But different people get in the way.
A Single Man is written by David Scearce (Measure of a Man (2018)) and debuting great Texan co-writer/director Tom Ford (Nocturnal Animals (2016)), adapting the same-titled 1964 novel by Christopher Isherwood (Down There on a Visit (1962)).
Firstly, the problems in fashion designer Ford's first entry into the world of filmmaking: Structurally, because we first get to know a great many things about George's loss, which could have been saved for later, to hit us with a larger force; especially since the film is not told in a linear style anyway. The use of color to illustrate life throughout the film seems trite and banal, just as part of the message of A Single Man, (live each day etc.) Finally there's the problem of Ford's aesthetics: Nearly every one in the film comments on how awful George looks, when, in fact, he couldn't look more stylish and spectacular. He is also surrounded by continually wildly attractive supermodel-looking people. These are, of course, the faults of a fashion designer who enters into filmmaking, thinking that his film must be as stylish as his fashion. With A Single Man in some periods you almost get the sense at times that the film serves as a prolonged commercial for Ford's fashion.
So what's so good about A Single Man as to make it succeed anyway then?
The film is a gay love story told without inhibitions, and without the sexual preference being the central issue in it. There's also some really fine, real scenes between the immersive, Oscar-nominated Colin Firth (The King's Speech (2010)) in the lead and Julianne Moore (The Hours (2002)) showing her very best side as George's old friend. Matthew Goode (Allied (2016)) and Nicholas Hoult (The Weather Man (2005)) are also wholly lovely in the film.
A Single Man has a boring end, and it is generally a bit overrated, but I still can't but embrace it in spite of its flaws.
Related post:
Tom Ford: Nocturnal Animals (2016) - T. Ford achieves greatness with plot-driven, stylish crime drama
Cost: 7 mil. $
Box office: 24.9 mil. $
= Big hit (returned 3.55 times its cost)
[A Single Man premiered 11 September (Venice Film Festival) and runs 100 minutes. Shooting took 21 days in California, including Los Angeles. The film opened #21 to a 217k $ first weekend in 9 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #17 and in 353 theaters (different weeks), grossing 9.1 mil. $ (36.5 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 4 mil. $ (16.1 %) and Germany with 1.6 mil. $ (6.4 %). The film was nominated for 1 Oscar: Best Actor (Firth), lost to Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart. It won 1/2 BAFTA nominations, an AFI award, was nominated for 3 Independent Spirit awards, won 2 prizes in Venice, and was nominated for 3 Golden Globes, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 3/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Ford returned with Nocturnal Animals (2016). Firth returned in A Chrismas Carol (2009); Moore in Chloe (2009). A Single Man is certified fresh at 86 % with a 7.40/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of A Single Man?
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