Dried Ink: If You Haven't Heard: A Single Man

This has a couple spoilers including the ending of the movie. If that bothers you, obviously you should go away or try and avoid the last paragraph. Maybe you should have read the book.

Let us begin with the man who made it happen, shall we?

Tom Ford, being as beautiful as his creations.

Do you recognize this classically handsome machine of a man? He is a genius of a fashion designer, master of all things Gucci, romantically successful (23 years with his partner Richard Buckley) gentleman and now a creator of beautiful film work. He is Tom Ford.

    I may be a little late, but I have just seen A Single Man. It is the film debut by Ford and his production company FADE TO BLACK based on the novel by Christopher Isherwood. I may on occasion use the term 'best ____ ever' a bit loosely, which is why I will not say this is the best anything. Pretty damn close though. I can honestly say five minutes after the end credits were done, tears of I'm still not sure what rolling down my face, that A Single Man is now and will forever be one of my favorite films ever. It is stunning and beautiful visually and emotionally. The credit of the story can go to Christopher Isherwood, but it is the cast (Colin firth, Julianne Moore and Matthew Goode) that emotionally and mentally charges the movie. It is Tom Ford who brings it all to life with his meticulous style and knack for making nearly anything a visual masterpiece. Even at it's saddest moments, there was something there... Something that locked the sadness from entering your own heart. Something much more than sympathy that just falls short of empathy.

   A Single Man is the story of George Falconer (Firth), a gay college professor in the 1960s who has recently lost his partner Jim (Goode). Aside from battling the loss of his absolute love, George has to deal with the idea of suicide, an old partner (Moore) in her own mid-life crisis who still appears to be in love with George because she can't come to love herself, and the arduous task of masking a sea of raw emotions of hurt, lust, loss, grief, terror and despair on all levels. All the while you can honestly feel him coming in and out of happiness and depression as Ford brings them to fruition through color. It's something you don't notice in an obvious way. Everything appears dismal and dry one second and just from the pure excellent beauty George sees in his secretary's face, the red of her lips and the green of her eyes and her nearly milky skin come to a brilliant life.

    George's flashbacks of his life with Jim are more real than most films can portray a couple. This I think is due to Colin Firth really wanting and loving and putting himself in the role of George. Even in the present, it was difficult to not feel too heartbroken and attached to George, as if I should help him, or give him a hug. The situations were real. The emotions and challenges were very real. Might I add; the uses of color and the filming techniques had a very legitimate feeling of authenticity. One of my favorite things about it was that it was not overbearing or fake. I think that in itself takes a certain amount of raw talent and dedication.

    George is stalked down (for lack of a better word) by a student (Nicholas Hoult) who claims to only have innocent intentions. He wants to talk, let George open up. He's motivated by George's passion and sincerity, but after a while it gets a little creepy. It's not teacher after student but rather student after teacher. I will admit it never goes too far. It's almost as if we're being tricked, but that is the trick because on the surface it's quite obvious his student has some underlying feelings for George.

    "I could die right now, and it would be okay. I would die happy." Or something along those lines. We've all said it; we've all heard it. Jim says this to George earlier on in a flashback and George replies something to the likes of "Well, I wouldn't be very happy so shut up..." Throughout this entire film you see George going through all of his difficult emotions, his bright but brief moments of euphoria and you feel it with him. Finally, after carefully planning his suicide he has an unexpected night with his student Kenny (Hoult) and eventually comes to the realization that life can be good again. People are good. Nothing is so broken that it can't be repaired. He sits and prepares for sleep and has a heart attack. While on the floor he sees Jim one last time and that looks of complete reassurance and relaxation overcomes his face.

    This is when I finally broke down. It wasn't completely because I was sad, but I definitely wasn't overjoyed or anything like that. It was coming back to what Jim said about dying happy. George finally felt that, and that was it. What if he never felt that content again? It didn't matter. If we could all go with a smile on our face, I wouldn't have a problem with that. This was a gorgeous, poignant story everyone needs to read and see. I should warn though, if you don't like having to actually think, or pay too much attention (it does feel rather slow at times) this isn't for you. But then again, nothing with much substance is for you, is it? A Single Man is crafted in a way not many films are. I think it's extremely rare that someone can take visual, emotional and mental beauty and combine it all in such a smooth, enveloping way.

One of my favorite uses of color was this scene in particular.

Julianne Moore and the10,000,000 hours it took on her hair were nothing short of dazzling.

Thank you Tom Ford.

Another one of my favorite scenes for the conversation taking place and the, again, almost perfect use of contrasting blacks and whites and saturation.