Tom Ford's A Single Man Reviewed.

Well my favorite author is Christopher Isherwood, i read Goodbye To Berlin one summer many years ago and got hooked, reading one new one a year since then, i was recently given My Guru and His Disciple for christmas, I will read it when schedule permits! A single Man is an american drama film released in 2009 directed by fashion designer Tom Ford. The film is an adaptation of Isherwood's 1962 novel of the same name and stars Colin Firth and Julianne Moore.

The film depicts a day in the life of an english professor, struggling to come to terms with the death of his lover, eight months earlier. In the film, George decides to commit suicide, and thus the events of his day and the people he meets are peppered with a special importance. The film was directed by Tom Ford, and thus it is no surprise that the film is supremely beautiful. What is perhaps more surprising than the visuals is the script, which is also fantastic, written by Ford himself with David Scearce, the script gives us real insight into the character of George, what makes him tick, the relationship he had with Jim and that he has with Charlie. The film uses voice over sparingly, allowing us to see inside Georges head, without the film becoming a hokey copy and paste from page to screen.

The films leading performances are fantastic, Colin Firth is utterly compelling in the leading role, and we believe in his resounding heartbreak. Also fantastic is Julianne Moore, who plays George's friend Charlie, a former party-girl and divorcee who is coming to terms with her fading beauty and now pointless existence. The character could easily become camp or two dimensional, but Moore is extraordinary as the slightly wild and rather unpredictable Charlie, a character we all think we know.

The story, like much of Isherwood's work is quite heavily autobiographical, A Single Man is one of Isherwood's later works, and the relationship between George and Jim is heavily inspired by his relationship with Don Bachardy. Isherwood was thirty years Bachardy's senior, and he surely knew that Bachardy was going to outlive him, the book is essentially Isherwood's exploration of heartbreak and loneliness. The visuals of the film are explained by the fact that George has decided to kill himself, and thus he sees the world with a special eye, and he sees the beauty in things previously thought of as dull or bland. Also present in the film is the threat of nuclear annihilation, George gives little thought to the idea of destruction, and feels that the desolation nuclear warfare would bring could perhaps not be such a bad thing. The film is visceral in the sense that, at certain moments, mostly when there is no dialogue, the audience is able to feel George's pain, and completely understand the emotional despair that he is feeling.

The music of the film is also fantastic, and Abel Korzeniowski's score is subtly but elegantly used. A Single Man is thought provoking, elegant and beautiful, featuring a top notch performance by Colin Firth and impeccable direction from Tom Ford. Rating: A-

George: the silence drowns out the noise, and I can feel rather than think,