Film: A Single Man

A Single Man is the directorial debut of Tom Ford. Based on the novel of the same name by Christopher Isherwood and starring Colin Firth, Julianne Moore (who is amazing in it) and Nicholas Hoult as the main characters.


Both the book and the movie follow British professor George Falconer (Firth) on a single day in 1962. The same day that he decides to take his own life after failing to cope with the unexpected death of his lover eight months earlier.

On this day as he plans his suicide to the smallest detail, he encounters people from various aspects of his life and discovers the beauty in each encounter. Which Ford brilliantly illustrates by enhancing the colors when George encounters such emotions.

Throughout the day, there are flashbacks to time spent with his lover as well as the night that he learned of his lovers death.

Julianne Moore captivates as Charlotte, George's dearest friend who seemingly hopes that he would fall in love with her despite George being gay. And Nicholas Hoult plays the boyish and curious Kenny Potter, a student at the university that George teaches at. Potter delicately dances with an attraction to his professor that nervously ends up in George's home that same night.

And you will not be able to miss one of my favorite male models, Jon Kortajarena, as the Spanish hustler Carlos.

Like the character of George, Ford paid great attention to every detail of the filmmaking process. Though it was shot in only twenty-one days and completely financed by Ford himself, the passion for his first film project is unmistakable. Think suits by Ford himself personalized "George" inside and cameos by both his lover, Richard Buckley, and Ford's own dogs.

There was wide speculation during early promotion that the books gay content and themes were being removed or diminished to improve success with a larger audience. Ford noted that he didn't see the film in terms of gay or straight.

"I don't think the movie's been de-gayed. I have to say that we live in a society that's pretty weird. For example, you can have full-frontal male nudity on HBO, yet in cinema, you can't have naked male buttocks. You can't have men kissing each other without it being considered adult content. So, in order to cut a trailer that can go into broad distribution in theaters, certain things had to be edited out. But it wasn't an intentional attempt to remove the gayness of the movie."

Gay or straight, the movie is a beautiful testament to Isherwood's novel and at it's core a love story. The subject of George's love changes throughout the movie, but always circles back to his partner.

Of course I cannot give away the ending, which is why if you haven't seen A Single Man you should immediately! And if you love the movie as much as I do, you will love the soundtrack.