This week I was lucky enough to attend a pre release screening of A Single Man, starring Colin Firth and Julianne Moore. Directed by Tom Ford in his debut (he also wrote the screenplay and produced), you may have heard the buzz surrounding the movie including an Oscar nomination for Best Actor (Colin Firth).
I wasn’t sure what to expect from the film. If I am honest the likely reason I was keen to see it was for Tom Ford’s involvement (and let’s face it, Colin Firth isn’t bad to look at either). I had read little bits here and there about the movie, but I waited with the anticipation of the unknown as the lights went down.
The opening scenes are confronting to say the least. Be assured that this does not set the tone for the rest of the film (well, it does in a sense but with less blood). Colin Firth looks tired and old, a far cry from his usual dashing Mr Darcy-esque characters. Firth plays English professor George, the single man, eight months after the unexpected passing of his partner. As anyone whose heart has been broken can attest to, the grieving period can be long and painful – George appears to us still in the grips of this depression. The film takes place over a single day in Los Angeles 1962 and shows us the range of emotion George experiences, its effect on the few people around him and his ability to deal (or not) with it.
Julianne Moore appears so briefly in the film you wonder how she scored a gig on the movie poster. Supporting roles by Ginnifer Goodwin and Matthew Goode are adequate, though Nicholas Hoult who portrays one of George’s students is rather good. The film deals with a range of issues including homosexuality, suicide, prostitution, mortality and age ethics and you wonder exactly how many and to what extreme Ford is using personal experience to base the film on.
Set in the 60s, the entire production comes across on film as grainy and dated. The score is brilliant and though I may not know huge amounts about the technical elements of film I did think this one was a thing of beauty in the way it was shot. Though the story portrayed is actually quite tragic, the sentiment is beautiful and the portrayal of The Single Man by Colin Firth is Oscar worthy (though I am biased, it’s the only Oscar nominated film I have seen thus far and Firth is gorgeous). See the film if only to understand how love can cross all the boundaries.
A Single Man is released nationally Thursday 25 February 2010
