Reviewed by Doug Cooper
Stars Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Matthew Goode, Nicholas Hoult, Jon Kortajarena, Paulette Lamori, Ryan Simpkins, Ginnifer Goodwin, Teddy Sears, Paul Butler, Aaron Sanders, Lee Pace
Written by Tom Ford & David Scearce
Certification UK 15 | US R
Runtime 99 minutes
Directed by Tom Ford
This one's a difficult beast - enormously impressive and done with the utmost care but with a glacial sensibility that never draws you in. One is constantly removed, never absorbed but left with much to admire.
Not least Colin Firth, playing a gay university lecturer contemplating his existence over a day in 1962, months after his young lover (Goode) has died in a car crash. The scene where he is told of his partner's death, the slow realisation and the composed voice as the tears well up is worth the Oscar nomination alone. It's a truly wonderful piece of acting and Firth accomplishes it with the utmost finesse. We see him as his day passes and he makes plans to commit suicide. But over the course of the day a few events unsettle his equilbrium.
Hoult plays one of his students who wants to get to know him better. They end up going skinny dipping together while his best friend and former lover Moore has him round to dinner and recriminations over the respective pasts come to light. We also see flashbacks to the happy life he shared with his lover - Goode is charm personified - and also his impetuous fascination with a Spaniard (Kortajarena) he meets outside a supermarket. All this forms a mosaic of the character and Firth is utterly convincing. The period atmosphere is well maintained - the staightlaced setting, the hairstyles, clothes and cars, all photographed with an impeccable eye, the differing colour schemes complimenting his states of mind.
The lavish detail is very impressive and the film exerts a hypnotic hold visually, the constant use of close-ups and the deliberate pace all accomplished with considerable skill. Moore is terrific as his pal (funny how she being an American is playing a Brit while English actors Goode and Hoult play Americans). The loneliness of her existence and her attempts to reignite her relationship with Firth is superbly performed. But like Firth's characterisation one never feels fully involved in their plight. The performances are preserved in an icy cocoon, always keeping you out.
Full marks to director Ford for going for a unique style though. He has an eye for wonderful compositions and adeptly conjures a slow persuasive mood, happy to imbue things with ambiguity rather than spell them out. But perhaps a little more heart is needed to puncture the cool exterior he has created. An almost excellent movie and a hugely promising directorial debut.