A Single Man

 

Tom Ford’s directorial debut attempts to create an emotional portrait of grief through the use of sensual images, textures and colours. Colin Firth plays George, an English professor in 1960s Los Angeles who attempts to get through a typical day after the death of his partner Jim (Matthew Goode). At every turn he is reminded of his former lover, from the smell of a dog’s coat to an encounter with a handsome Spanish model. Ford makes bold (if obvious) colour choices, leaching it out during times of despair to form a palette of sepia tones and even switching to black and white to capture some distinct memories. There are moments when a sense of poignancy emerges, mostly due to an affecting performance by Firth, but there are also times when the film feels like an expensive, albeit very stylish, advertisement, full of empty images that rely too heavily on the soundtrack to convey any emotion. A Single Man is an ambitious project with mixed results.