Colin Firth’s depiction of the character George Falconer in A Single Man was amazing, emotionally complex, and very artistic. The fashion designer Tom Ford directed the film and that may explain the almost impressionistic painting-like quality of some of the images and scenes: bodies falling through water juxtaposed against swimming scenes; the posed image of George’s lover Jim lying dead beside his car with George walking toward him juxtaposed against the final scene of George lying on the floor of his bedroom in a similar pose, and Jim walking toward him; the series of scenes showing the buildings and cars and clothing and social behaviors of 1961. These were the backdrop for a beautiful and sad story of a man who cannot come out of the closet because of the closed mindedness of the 1960s American culture. The references to prejudice against communism, fear of U.S.S.R. bombs, and general mistrust of individual, social, and political differences provide the historical context for George’s careful, quiet, “single” existence.
George is presented as a literature professor who, like many lit professors, has a strong appreciation for art and for the motions and behaviors of people. His character is gentle, ethical, and appreciative of others, and in a key scene as he talks to his students about the destructive capability of humans who are prejudiced, he is pleading for understanding and acceptance without being able to reveal his sexual orientation. His example is the Nazi hatred of the Jews. He tells his students that the Nazi hatred was “not without a cause . . . just that the cause wasn’t real . . . it was fear.” He says that there are “all sorts of minorities” and if a “minority is somehow visible, then the fear is much greater.” The professor’s discussion of prejudice is lost on most of his students . . . except for Kenny Potter, who both guesses his professor’s orientation and is himself either gay or bisexual. Kenny comes on to George in a shy and intellectual way, and George responds in an ethical and caring manner, as an older man who would never take advantage of a younger person, as a conscientious professor.
The lack of any sort of tawdry action or twisted characterization was refreshing and reminded me that good filmmaking can make great art of emotionally stable people interacting in emotionally healthy ways. Even the one character who is a bit on the edge, George’s friend Charlotte who has been in love with George for years, has moments of clarity about the depth of George and Jim’s love and George’s pain after Jim is killed in the auto accident.
And while it may seem impossible, the film contained one of the quirkiest, funniest scenes of an utterly failed suicide attempt I have ever seen. Fastidious and thoughtful George, not wanting to make a mess for his friend Charlotte to find, crawls inside a sleeping bag with his gun. The viewer sees the outside of the bag as George inside of it is obviously trying to get the gut to his head. He is twisting and turning in a farcical manner, and the phone rings just then. He unzips the bag, answers the phone, and puts the gun away in the drawer. The moment has passed. The scene elicits laughter and relief at the same time.
But it is finally the love between the two men, the depth of George’s grief, and his need to understand the process of Jim’s death, of any person’s death, that stays with me. Beautiful film, tender film, such an honest film about loving and being loved, of a marginalized person living life with grace and finally facing death with that same grace. And what an ending! Absolutely stunning, absolutely perfect line and perfect image when George says “and just like that, it came.”
