A Single Man - Dir. Tom Ford, 2009.

Tom Ford, making his directorial debut, is clearly a fashion designer. A Single Man is dominated by the aesthetic throughout, from the blemish-free skin of the perfectly toned male bodies to the spectacularly stylised early 1960s Californian home and spotless Mercedes Benz. Constant close up shots of bold blue eyes, dripping wet skin and perfect lips sucking on sexy cigarettes make this film a visual joy to behold, whilst masking the more serious political and social undertones.

Colin Firth plays George Falconer, a university lecturer living in Los Angeles in November 1962, coming to terms with the sudden death of his male partner of sixteen years. In the performance of a lifetime, he struggles with suicidal tendencies and same sex lust, eventually succumbing to the mutual desire of student Kenny Potter, played with surprisingly maturity by Nicholas Hoult, of Skins fame. George’s best friend, and it seems one time love interest, Charley (Julianne Moore), could have stepped out of a mid-sixties Jean-Luc Godard film and the seductive charm of her performance secures Ford’s position as a true aesthete, as if his obsession with the bodies and faces of his characters was not proof enough of his appreciation of beauty. As the impressive surround of 60s high society living is complemented by the luscious sixties pop music, the two characters take part in an intoxicated dance scene akin to that found in Pulp Fiction, creating a true spectacle to behold, and the high point of the film.

However, beneath this facade of perfection, lurks ominous danger. The Cuban missile crisis is mentioned a few times throughout, and there is no hint of subtlety when Firth is lecturing about minorities and the camera settles on two obviously uncomfortably gay students. 1962 was the beginning of accepted homosexuality in the Western world, and it is from this that perhaps hope springs from by the end of the film, with George seemingly satisfied that the next generation will be more free, perhaps not only from the shackles of sexual repression, but from the constant fear of nuclear war.

Critics will argue that the constant visuals of beauty are overused and overdone, however with regards to this I draw them to Falconer uttering the film’s final lines, speaking of the various, short instances in his life where he has experienced visions of complete clarity-

“I cling to them, but like everything, they fade. I have lived my life on these moments. They pull me back to the present, and I realize that everything is exactly the way it was meant to be.”

Perhaps it is these moments that Ford is trying to prolong, perhaps he is simply attempting to leave on the minds of the audience a visual interpretation of the most precious moments of exquisite beauty in this life.