Short Take: Visually stunning, with depth beyond the aesthetic

Director: Tom Ford (Début)

Screenwriters: Tom Ford (Début), David Scearce (Début)

Cast: Colin Firth (Bridget Jones’s Diary, Love Actually, Mamma Mia!), Julianne Moore (Blindness, Children of Men, The Hours), Matthew Goode (Watchmen, Match Point), Nicholas Hoult (Skins, About a Boy)

Length: 1 hr 41 mins

Synopsis: Eight months after his partner of 16 years, Jim (Goode) dies in a car accident, college English professor George (Firth), decides to end his life.  As George arranges his affairs on what is supposed to be the final day of his life, he is pulled away from his decision to die after visiting his longtime friend Charley (Moore) and spending time with an intriguing and handsome student, Kenny (Hoult).

Analysis: First-time director Tom Ford is best known as the fashion designer who revolutionized The House of Gucci and then went on to create his own popular label.  In A Single Man, his affinity for beautiful clothing reveals itself in every meticulously chosen and worn outfit; Firth’s wardrobe all comes from Ford’s line.  However, it is not only in regards to fashion that Ford displays an acute attention to detail, but the whole of his mise-en-scène, from costumes and make-up to the ‘60s period architecture, shows Ford’s touch.  To say that the film is visually gorgeous would be an understatement.

However, this beauty is not simply arbitrary aesthetics as many critics suggest.  Rather, Ford presents the world as George sees it.  Throughout the film, George is constantly enchanted by the casual beauty that surrounds him, and Ford’s directing style portrays a similar preoccupation.  While this attention to aesthetics is an expression of Ford’s previous work, for George it reveals what he enjoys most in the world.  They are the moments when, during his last day, he stops to appreciate the simple beauty that surrounds him: whether it is the pattern of smoke winding from a cigarette or the way his secretary’s lipstick perfectly complements her lips.  The beauty that excites him is precisely what allows him to escape his depression.

From the beginning, George’s preoccupation with appearance is clear in his morning routine.  The audience sees him polish his shoes and dress in his impeccably tailored suit to create what George himself characterizes as the façade he shows the world.  With his constructed appearance, George can hide his true self; not only his homosexuality, but also his sadness.

There are few moments that betray the despair beneath his charming demeanor.  One of the most fascinating occurs during George’s aforementioned morning routine in which, after his housekeeper forgets to thaw a loaf of bread leaving him nothing to eat for breakfast, he slams it repeatedly on the counter, not so much in hopes of knocking a slice free as in a display of his frustration that something does not go according to plan.

George’s obsession with façades creates one of the most fascinating scenes of the film in which, instead of just killing himself, he tests different rooms and positions to create the most visually pleasing death.  Besides having a dark humor, the scene is the most powerful expression of George’s desire for beauty.  His death simply cannot be any less beautiful than his life.

Since he believes he is about to die, George allows his true self to reach the surface a few times throughout the film.  The cracks in his façade most frequently occur when something attractive catches his eye.  Then, everything else becomes irrelevant.  In these moments, Ford suddenly heightens the film’s dulled color palette, making the colors as lush and rich as possible.  Perhaps the most stunning instance comes when, rather than listen to his colleague’s worries over the Cuban Missile Crisis, George focuses solely on shirtless young men playing tennis.  Like a number of scenes, the men move in slow motion in order to further enhance the powerful beauty they represent as well as George’s enjoyment of it.  Similar to the style of Hong Kong director Wong Kar-Wai, Ford often films scenes in slow motion while the luxurious soundtrack, co-written by Wong collaborator Shigeru Umebayashi, aurally expresses the scenes’ emotions.

The scene is aesthetic pleasure at its purest and represents one of the few moments George enjoys his life.  It is through these last savored moments of beauty that George appreciates his life.  Beauty is what makes his life worth living, and Ford seems to make George’s world exceedingly beautiful in order to reveal exactly what George is giving up.  So Ford’s film is not simply beautiful for beauty’s sake, it encourages dwelling on life’s casual beauty rather than its sadness.  It is only by appreciating his surroundings that George can learn to live with his misery.

Rating: 9.0