The Rectangular View

The Story:

A Single Man takes place in Los Angeles in 1962, when gay men were forced into the closet or risk losing their careers. Colin Firth plays George Falconer, a middle-aged college professor secretly grieving the loss of his partner, Jim.

The film opens with George dreaming of visiting the scene of the car accident that took Jim’s life. He lays down next to Jim, kisses him, then wakes up. And so George’s day begins, with him getting dressed while admitting that every day he slowly becomes the person the world expects him to be.

Through flashbacks we discover more about George and Jim’s relationship and the car accident that took Jim’s life. We also learn that George found out about Jim’s death through a phone call from a relative made in secret. When Goerge asks about the funeral, he is told that the service is just for family. And so Geroge is left to grieve without closure, going through his daily routine while planning to end his life.

Because this is a quiet and subtle film, its success hinges on the central actors performing at the top of their game, which it has. Colin Firth plays George with such skilled precision that you can’t help but grieve with him. Julianne Moore plays George’s best and only friend, Charlotte “Charlie” Roberts, a divorced woman with a serious drinking problem. The two had tried to form a more romantic relationship early in their friendship, but it failed due to his being gay. Because of that, their friendship is rife with confusion and misunderstanding. There’s a wonderful scene with Charlie and George having drinks and discussing Jim, Charlie’s ex-husband, and their past that brings all the complexities of their relationship to light.

Nicholas Hoult plays Kenny, one of George’s students, who pursues him to the point of stalking. Hoult’s acting falls a bit flat but doesn’t distract too much from the film. It also helps that he has the youthfulness that is necessary for the part. Geroge and Kenny form a bond, and George sees a bit of himself in the young man, which gives him the sense of clarity he’s been searching for.

In the end A Single Man is as much about grief without closure as it is about living life in the closet. George can’t move on with is life until he is able to see himself for who he is and feel something other than grief and loss.

Final thoughts:

This is Tom Ford’s directorial debut, and he crafts A Single Man with a fine eye for detail and beauty. Every shot is something to behold. The acting is on point, and the story, based on the 1964 novel of the same name by Christopher Isherwood, is well told and thoughtful. Some may find the film to be stylized to the point of being unrealistic, and that it has too many slow motion shots, but these things didn’t bother me. This was my fourth time seeing A Single Man and I enjoyed it just as much the fourth time as I did the first.