| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| BaftaBaby |
Posted - 12/24/2009 : 13:04:52
A Single Man is based on Christopher Isherwood's thinly disguised autobiographical novel about a strait-laced, repressed aging poof and his coming to terms with the main relationship of his life.
Colin Firth invests the title role with successive moments of such brilliant and brutal emotional truth that when you join the dots, his portrait is perfect.
Sadly the script isn't. So we get glimpses like disjointed snapshots of George meeting love-of-his-life Jim; of his struggle to continue a friendship with former heterosexual lover Julianne Moore whose torch for him cannot be quenched even by vast amounts of alcohol; and of the buds of new love with Kenny. What we don't get are explorations of real relationships ... we get fucking without the profound love that's supposed to be enveloping both George and Jim. So that when Jim's gone and George decides his only course of action ... it's just another thing ... like the panning shot over a bookshelf.
There's a sort of surprise ending, and by then you understand why the film opens with shots of a drowning man ... but by then, I'm sad to say, you don't care.
Except that Firth is a fine, fine actor.
|
| 4 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Demisemicenturian |
Posted - 02/16/2010 : 18:18:59
A Single Man
quote:
Originally posted by BaftaBabe
repressed
Is he? To me, he seems perfectly in touch with his feelings and happy to talk about them to anyone he feels close to.
quote:
poof
 Please. Charley using this term once (in an argument) is not licence to use it as though it's neutral. 
I've never read the novel or anything else by Isherwood so that may have been an advantage. The film has a coldness that can only be intentional. I didn't feel like anything was lacking in the portrayal of the relationships. People fall in love all the time and no one usually cares why except for in their own cases. It would be a major distraction if it explored why George fell in love with Jim -- it's neither here nor there when it comes to George's grief, which is what the film is about. Similarly, what more is there to know about George and Charley's relationship than what we see? He doesn't need to discover anything about himself from her, or from anyone in order for his grief to be touching. Spoiler: He only learns anything about himself at all in the sense that he realises he can have feelings for someone else.
I could end up thinking less of it on a second viewing, but for now 5/5. |
| ChocolateLady |
Posted - 12/28/2009 : 18:23:52
Yes, it does help. I find it terribly unfortunate that really good actors get wasted like this when the script just can't match their ability to portray something more than what's on the page. Obviously, the director did his best with the words he was given. Otherwise, the portrayals would have been as flawed as the script.
Unfortunate, but I'll probably want to see it anyway - just to watch Firth and Moore. |
| BaftaBaby |
Posted - 12/28/2009 : 13:08:21
quote:
Originally posted by ChocolateLady
I've always admired Firth as an actor - especially in the smaller parts he did earlier in his career.
Question - you hint, but don't tell us if Moore does a good job with her part or not. I think she's an excellent actress, and hope she came through with this one as well. Hopefully, equaling Firth. So...?
She's never given a bad performance, and this film is no exception. The problem is in how the relationship between her and Firth develops within the screenplay. Or rather, how it doesn't. I dunno, maybe it's just me, but I can buy that the woman is a broken hearted fag-hag, but there's nothing except what Moore brings to let me into her complex inner life. The result -- as with all the relationships in the film -- is that emotional truths are laid out like cards on a table, face down. We may be told what's on the other side, but the script is reluctant to flip the cards.
Maybe it's because I'm straight, but I think the film would have been far more intiguing if its focus were actually about the relationship between Firth and Moore. Especially since we learn nothing about why his relationship with Jim was anything more than horizontal.
I think, if we're going to feel George's heartbreak it would be stronger coming out of the way he discovers some fundamentals about himself in his evolving relationship with her, and how she can never really do that.
As it is, it's like watching something powerful on shore, but only in the water's reflection.
Hope that helps.
|
| ChocolateLady |
Posted - 12/28/2009 : 10:12:11
I've always admired Firth as an actor - especially in the smaller parts he did earlier in his career.
Question - you hint, but don't tell us if Moore does a good job with her part or not. I think she's an excellent actress, and hope she came through with this one as well. Hopefully, equaling Firth. So...? |
|
|
