"A SINGLE MAN" NOW...

Do you remember last year’s Oscars®? The whole deal about the Oscar ® for Best Actor? I think I’ve mentioned it when I was talking about Crazy Heart. Some said Mickey Rourke should have got it, but Sean Penn actually did, etc… I had a strange feeling of déjà-vu when I watched A Single Man last night. Corny as it may sound, I think as far as Colin Firth is concerned, this is the performance of a lifetime…
George (Colin Firth) is a literature professor. He lives in L.A. in the year 1962. He lost his partner of 16 years, Jim, to a traffic accident a year ago. He has tried to carry on, with the support of Charley (Julianne Moore) – another Brit in L.A. and a girlfriend from his youth who never quite gave up on him – but has failed. So, he decides to do something drastic. We are witness to this day, with George as a narrator, leading us through it. George is a careful man, and he has meticulously planned everything, but life has a chance of throwing both curveballs and second chances at one…
I’m sorry if the storyline seems a tad vague, but I do not want to give too much away from a storyline that is simply beautiful in its simplicity. (Adapted to the screen from the novel by Christopher Isherwood) . And technically, the film is in a word brilliant, no matter which kind of “technical” you look it. The acting is faultless through and through. All the actors were good but Colin Firth, in a word, shines. And Mr. Firth, coupled with the director Tom Ford, portray brilliantly the feeling of suffocation George lives with day in and day out; not only having to keep up a false front to hide his true identity (please recall it is 1962 – one cannot be a gay university professor in 1962) but also the pain he feels at losing Jim and somehow having to also stuff that pain into the false front he presents to the public. The filming and the successful changes in mood through the film ensure an absolute roller-coaster right to the end. And I felt, especially as I watched George “become” the George his workplace expects, that this was actually quite a familiar feeling. One doesn’t necessarily have to be gay to have to “become” someone your workplace expects. Careers dictate that we dress, act think (or seem to anyway) in whatever way. And in day to day life, normal folks can’t escape this situation. So much worse is the case for George who is grieving but is not allowed to share it for even a minute with anyone and must keep up a front of absolute normalcy starting from the day after his partner dies.
In short, harrowing but absolutely brilliant. Watch with tissues close to hand. And Mr. Firth gets my personal Oscar® for best actor any day of the week!