British writer Christopher Isherwood, known best for The Berlin Stories that spawned the stage and film musical Cabaret, was one of the first authors to take up the gay liberation movement of the 1960s. His 1964 novel A Single Man was largely autobiographical, chronicling one day in the life of a British professor in California. The invented George Falconer, however, mourns the death of his longtime partner, while Isherwood remained with his partner until he died much later.Fashion designer-turned-director Tom Ford floods the novel with fluid sound and imagery, carefully sculpted cinematography, and meticulous period detail. His directorial hand is omnipresent but never tacky or kitsch. His images cascade across the screen like the waters that George floats in, echoing how he sinks further into grief. It's easy to take a film like this at surface value. Colin Firth seems to play that Englishman we've seen before; yet his lack of showiness allows us to see the restless aching underneath. He appears sedate, but early on intimates that that he plans to commit suicide that night.
One feels Mad Men-inspired sixties-mania on display (aided by Jon Hamm's voiceover cameo). And the undulating music and delicate lyricism owe homage to The Hours, not to mention Julianne Moore's participation. Even she resists playing up the camp side of George's close friend Charley, who cloaks her anguish in stingers and swing. As a single woman, she tries to hide her feelings for George as much as he hides how he's lost his will to live. Ford's film feeds off the retro craze but foregrounds the alienation at its core with honesty and familiarity.
2 comments:
I'm glad you enjoyed it as much as I did. One of my film snob friends tried to argue that the aesthetic touches reflect Ford's "young and inexperienced" directorial eye.
I thought it would be way more popish and in-your-face aesthetically than it was. Seemed like a confident debut to me.
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