A Single Man ****

The most arresting thing about "A Single Man" is Colin Firth's incredibly contained yet emotional performance as George, an English professor in '60's L.A. coping with the loss of his partner of 16 years, Jim, played in flashbacks by Matthew Goode. The second most arresting thing about the movie is that it was directed and written (screenplay) by Tom Ford, the fashion designer. It's a very, very good first effort, and full of marvelous touches that set an effective tone and style.

We follow George for an entire day, one that George has decided will be his last, and the heightened awareness that he brings to every encounter makes him - and us - notice things as if for the first time. We see his performance as a lecturer, talking to a student, visiting his old friend and one-time lover Charley (excellently played by Julianne Moore), and remembering his life with Jim. Gradually we come to know him and his life through this one day.

This is the 60's, remember, and the 1964 novel by Christopher Isherwood on which the movie is based is firmly rooted in its period. One of the earliest gay liberation works, "A Single Man," depicts the life of an "invisible minority," as George says in a lecture, afraid to say its name, a minority that even the family of a life partner of 16 years would refuse to recognize. The oppressed must speak in code, and convey meaning in a glance, which Ford captures perfectly. It's not just the too long held gaze that speaks here, though, it's seeing that he's depicting, as eyes and looks form a recurrent leit motif throughout the film.

It's the 60's speaking through Charley when she says that George and Jim's 16 years were not real somehow, that it was a substitution for something else. George refuses to let her get away with it, which is good. But it's the 60's, I'm afraid, that is responsible for the ending, in a bit of melodrama that I don't think a gay author today would indulge in. Up to that point, however, it's a marvelous film, and sure to bring Firth and Ford some well-deserved attention.

Rated R. 99 minutes. Tom ford - Director / Writer (screenplay) / Producer, Christopher Isherwood - Writer (novel), David Scearce - Writer (screenplay), Andrew Miano - Producer, Robert Salerno - Producer, Chris Weitz - Producer, Eduard Grau - Cinematographer, Abel Korzeniowski - Composer, Dan Bishop - Production Designer, Joan sobel - Editor. Produced by Artina Films. Distributed by The Weinstein Company.

Principle actors: Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Nicholas Hoult, Matthew Goode, Jon Kortajarena.