"A Single Man" (2009) Directed by Tom Ford

“I was never terribly fond of waking up”

Based on the novel of the same name by Christopher Isherwood and written, produced and directed as his debut feature length film by Tom Ford, A Single Man left me somewhat cold after I originally watched this in early 2010 but I’ve starkly reappraised my first impressions after re-watching this for the purposes of this article. I was always in awe of Colin Firth’s central performance and this appreciation grew ever stronger with my recent repeat viewing, as did my appreciation of Julianne Moore’s brilliant supporting role and those from Nicholas Hoult, Matthew Goode and Jon Kortajarena. But what particularly struck me on re-watching this film seven years on from it’s initial release was how well crafted A Single Man is, from Ford’s direction and his choice of oblique and unusual camera angles and numerous extreme close up shots that place us as the audience in the shoes of the characters so well. For his choice of slow motion sequences and flashbacks and particularly a repeated use of reflections, be they via windows or Colin Firth’s glasses all of which continually reinforce the turbulent and anxious nature of the main characters.

The film is edited frenetically at times, juxtaposing many differing images in a blur of time and thus again constantly confirming the conflicted minds at play here, with Joan Sobel deserving of special praise for her editorial skills, as does Director of Photography Eduard Grau for his pitch perfect reflection of the time period (late 1940’s through to the early Cold War of the 1960’s) and his colour palette that’s slightly drained and de-saturated, through to the moonlit dip in the ocean towards the end of the film. After re-watching A Single Man I have just a single gripe with the film, and that is that it’s two minutes too long! If only the film ended with Colin Firth stood beside the fireplace of his sumptuous home reflecting on his day it would have been an almost perfect film for me. But alas we have a further two minutes of screen time following this and an ending that perhaps we as an audience didn’t deserve. Although given the ninety minutes that precede this moment, it’s maybe not the ending many of the audience may expect.

The above opening paragraphs are taken from my original article penned and published to my Medium blog site on 9th January 2023 and which can now be read in full and for free (please also consider following/subscribing for free too!) via my Substack blog site and original article linked immediately below:

https://ramblingmusings666.substack.com/p/a-single-man-2009-bab7d08f983d

This spoiler free review can also be found in full within Volume 1 of my "essential film reviews collection". Each volume is priced at £4.99 however, should you have an Amazon Kindle "Unlimited" package you can read each and every volume for free:

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