A Single Man

To describe the main character as "single" perhaps brings about the same connotation associated with a facebook relationship status. But to describe George (Colin Firth) in such a way, while true, would be trivial. He is a man apart from this world entirely, seeming to feel as if he has no place.

The main course of action takes place over the span of a single day. George's last day. With the death of his partner, he is consumed by melancholy and dreads mornings (although apparently this was the case even before his lover died). He puts up a facade at work and amongst friends but it seems that there is an internal cause beyond his widowed state that is never quite fully brought to the surface. As a homosexual he considers himself a minority, but in 1962 he is not a minority that is feared. He is one that is, as he describes in one of his classes, invisible.

Throughout the movie, George throughly buys into this idea. People all around him are reaching out, inviting him to do this or that or simply to be with him, but he stays away from any of that. A visual used throughout has George drowning as he tosses and turns in a large body of water, unable to break free. What finally pulls him out and allows him to find a breath of air is one of his students. They spend an evening together after running into each other (although in fairness the student was looking for him) at a bar and George finds friendship and bliss in this outing. He experiences a rare "moment of clarity."

The screenplay is insightful and poignant and Colin Firth will likely land a nod for Best Actor from the Academy. He convinces us that he has a great sorrow but that it almost seems bottled, for his character faces internal struggles. The problem is that we never get a chance to dive fully and completely into these sorrows. The narrative arch feels restrained by the 101 min running time.

Many of the visuals are desaturated but obtain their color when George interacts with another person and notices little bits of beauty. There is much to admire about human interaction and George knows it, but yet he avoids camaraderie in much of the film. George is a smart person and I'm convinced that something else that is not hinted at troubled this character.

This film won't ever get a sliver of the amount of mainstream attention as Brokeback Mountain ever got, but it's characters are more convincing. The love they share for another is indeed the love for another human that anyone can share, and not merely lust-based as I'm convinced Ennis and Jack's was. The pain George goes through is universal. I felt it, but not as much as I would have had it been on the screen longer.