.... Is how The Times described the film "A Single Man" and I have to agree. The directorial debut by Tom Ford was ripped into by some for being merely style over substance. Not a particular devotee of Ford the man, or his work with Gucci, I went to see this with some trepidation on Valentine's night, at the Gate Cinema at Notting Hill.
With obvious nods to Wong Kar Wai's "in The Mood For Love", Ford directs an incredibly stylish and moving portrait of grief and a life slowly falling apart.
I was a bit suspect about Colin Firth - a man I've only associated before with "Americanised English" dramas - a sort of poor man's Hugh Grant.... Was I surprised! An impeccable and intense performance countered by Julianne Moore as his unhappy, damaged and lonely best friend
Also a stunning example of period interiors styling - I loved the juxtaposition of Firth's character's masculine Mid-Century modernist interior with Julianne Moore's character's 'Hollywood Regency' style interior. His is all sparse, moody, Scandi minimalism, whilst hers is a cream-carpeted, gilt-edged, chinoiserie confection....
Definitely top of my Christmas list this year...
