Home > Drama >

A Single Man

Watch Now

A Single Man (2009)

December. 11,2009
|
7.5
|
R
| Drama Romance
Watch Now

The life of George Falconer, a British college professor, is reeling with the recent and sudden loss of his longtime partner. This traumatic event makes George challenge his own will to live as he seeks the console of his close girl friend Charley, who is struggling with her own questions about life.

...

Watch Trailer

Cast

Similar titles

Reviews

Lovesusti
2009/12/11

The Worst Film Ever

More
Huievest
2009/12/12

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

More
IncaWelCar
2009/12/13

In truth, any opportunity to see the film on the big screen is welcome.

More
Bergorks
2009/12/14

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

More
sol-
2009/12/15

Depression overwhelms a college professor on the anniversary of his boyfriend's tragic death in this drama written and directed by Tom Ford. As per Ford's latter 'Nocturnal Animals', this is a visually arresting and finely acted motion picture, further topped off with a superb Golden Globe nominated score. While some of Ford's imagery is a little ostentatious, he shows perfect restrain at other points, allowing Colin Firth to emote silently in close-up during a flashback in which he hears the news of his boyfriend's death by phone. Ford's use of slow motion as Firth drives along, watching neighbourhood kids and others works very well too; one truly gets the sense of Firth using the day to contemplate whether he can go on living or whether he should poetically end it all. There is, however, no escaping how slim the narrative is and not all of the subplots that crop up necessarily gel. Julianne Moore's turn as his best friend adds surprisingly little to his journey, except for some unanswered questions about their past together. It is hard to know what to make of Jon Kortajarena's gigolo either, however, Nicholas Hoult has a nice turn with a lot of suggestiveness as one of Firth's students with an unusual interest in him. Indeed, while all the little bits and pieces here might not necessarily add up, the experience of 'A Single Man' resonates long after it is over.

More
studioAT
2009/12/16

Nobody can doubt the calibre of the cast involved, or the director, Tom Ford, but for me this film didn't really do a lot.A simple premise is stretched to breaking point, and even then the film feels overlong.Colin Firth as ever gives the type of performance that thoroughly deserved awards, and I also liked Matthew Goode in his role too.Ultimately though this film will not be one that i'd wish to see again, and plotting and character development are the two reasons for this I'm afraid.A single man - a decent film

More
Dave
2009/12/17

This film is set on 30 November 1962 in Southern California. It stars Colin Firth as a depressed, homosexual, university professor who is bereaved of his partner and is contemplating suicide.Julianne Moore gives a great performance as the protagonist's best friend - which is the only good thing about the film.This film is dull and miserable for the viewers. Firth's character chooses not to kill himself - but he dies of a heart attack later the same day. This film was misleadingly promoted as including a romance between Firth and Moore's characters.

More
rooprect
2009/12/18

What's up with all the single paragraph reviews of this movie? Usually single paragraph reviews on IMDb denote a spam of plugs by the filmmakers and their friends who make junk accounts to inflate a film's appeal. In this case "A Single Man" needs no artificial inflation, but I'm still perplexed as to why nobody has really dug into the guts of this film.And then I realized that it might be because this is a very challenging and somewhat abstract film that defies analysis. Well, that doesn't help you, so let's roll up our sleeves and take a whack at it.Beginning with the setting and look of the movie: It is set in 1960s Los Angeles, and appropriately it has a very dated, nostalgic look with a lot of browns and sepias. But it isn't just for show; the colors (and lack thereof) are designed to strongly convey the protagonist George's state of mind. In the beginning we learn that he has suffered a tragedy, and if you've ever experienced something life-shattering like that, you know that the world becomes bland to you. Technicolor bluejays don't come flying out of nowhere like in a Disney musical, but rather everything seems unspectacular and tasteless. I thought the inter-weaving of the 60s nostalgic look (going by those faded photographs of the 60s which, coincidentally, match the fading of memory with its color shift to monochrome) was well done.So if I haven't bored you to death with my (now 3!) paragraphs of unsensational writing, read on because there's a reason. The story itself is rather unsensational, and so it requires a decent attention span. If you bore easily, then this isn't the film for you. It's a mostly quiet exploration of a man's tormented mind; however it's spiced up by a nice little attention grabber right near the beginning. George plans to kill himself.Ah now that got your attention, didn't it? Although it shouldn't dominate the story (and doesn't), it's enough to keep you on the hook, knowing that there is an impending sense of finality. Call me a sucker, but I fall for this plot device every time, and I love movies that begin with the premise of the protagonist facing death because it adds value to even the tiniest details that unfold. Not to mention the whole morbid curiosity of wanting to see if the deed is done.Back to the story. George is a gay man in the 1960s who is not only alienated from people by his tragedy, but he is further excommunicated by the homophobic attitudes of the time. Don't worry, it's not bashed over your head like some pity party; the homophobia is shown with subtlety, so it's not a cartoonish farce. George is a respected, classy gent and there are no sensational scenes of bullying or hate, but perhaps more insidious than bullying, there's a sort of polite barrier that people (his family) construct.His one friend is "Charley" played by Julianne Moore. She plays a sort of deplorable socialite whom you can't help but love. Herself guarded by a facade of makeup and a contrived New England accent, she is a prisoner in her own sort of polite barrier. There's one scene I loved where George & Charley break down their respective oppressive walls of gentility and groove out to a hip 60s tune ("Green Onions" by Booker T Jones) which was the 1960s equivalent of pelvis-thrusting house music. The spectacle doubles as an interesting seduction scene, and you'll have to watch the movie to see how that turns out."A Single Man" has a artistic feel and visually poetic quality that could only be achieved by a brash cinema newcomer who hails from a different artistic discipline altogether. We got exactly that with debutante director Tom Ford, a fashion designer who revamped Gucci in the mid 90s, saving the company from collapse. I haven't seen his Gucci creations, but I was surprised that the look of this film is surprisingly dark and conservative. No flashy runway theatrics required.Tom Ford's vision reminds me of other stylish directoral debuts from art crossovers like Chanel/Dior model-turned-director Daniella Amavia ("A Beautiful Now") and dancer-turned-director Arielle Javich ("Look, Stranger"). It also reminded me very much of the excellent film by Sally Potter (dancer-turned-director) "Ginger & Rosa" which is similarly set during the 1960s in polite society while the Cuban Missile Crisis and threat of nuclear annihilation looms over the head of Ginger, a very troubled teen. In all of these films I've mentioned, the look is very distinct, graceful and memorable. If you like films like that which, in addition to providing lush eye candy, also force you to think about subtle themes rather than action & car chases, check out "A Single Man" and all the others.

More