Too many heavy movies too close together. Recently, all movies about love seem heavy. First, Up In The Air, and now Tom Ford's A Single Man, a truly heartbreaking story about a British professor whose partner of 16 years dies in a car crash. And, of course, it being set in the 1950s, our Single Man, named George, (an impeccably dressed and tender performance by Colin Firth, looking more handsome here than any man his age) cannot be open about his love, nor is it considered legitimate by even his closest friends, even after Jim, his partner, is killed. So when Jim dies, not only is our Man shunned from the funeral ("family only") but must suffer entirely within himself. In one striking sequence, Firth seems to literally crumble under the vacuum-like force of George's loss.
Of course, Tom Ford throws in his own delusional group of youngsters, all doe-eyed and strikingly similar to those in Ford's fashion campaigns, as potential distractions for our Man, but it doesn't matter one bit, ultimately: Jim's death signified the end of all importance on Earth for George, as his love was the most intense and sincere feeling he's ever experienced. The world of George is muted and lonely.
Love is so rare. And love is the greatest thing in human life, but also the most painful. And sometimes, a life without love is no life at all.
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