Fashion designer Tom Ford (Gucci, YSL, Tom Ford) makes his directorial debut with a beautifully intimate, thoughtful, and profound film adapted from a novel by legendary gay author Christopher Isherwood.Set in 1962, the film follows our narrator and main character George Falconer for one day. George has recently lost his partner, Jim, of 16 years and George’s grief is palpable and ever present yet we see how he must keep it on the periphery of his mind in order to function. There is also the issue that because his was a same-sex relationship, his loss and therefore grief is not socially sanctioned or recognized. His loss is invisible, silent, just as his grief must be. Indeed, this film and George’s story is one of the best portrayals of the experience of grief I have ever seen; there is no “sentiment” or clichés, only real emotion and the reactions of someone truly in the disorienting, paralyzing process of grieving.
Colin Firth gives a miraculously nuanced and subtle performance as George, perfectly and brilliantly embodying the anxious, quiet process of mourning. And the beautiful and phenomenally talented Julianne Moore, as his best friend Charlotte, is alternately shockingly aged and spectacularly gorgeous (à la Ann-Margaret) in an exquisitely tender yet brittle performance.
The look of the film is exquisite as well. This does not appear to be a film created in the digital age of clarity and high definition. The film stock looks like it came from 1962 and the color is heartbreakingly washed out, like an old Kodak photo of some lost summer. The only time the color becomes saturated is in George’s memories of his life with Jim and when he meets a young man who brings some respite to his grief.
The team responsible for the remarkable period look of television’s Mad Men, set in the same year, did the art direction for this film. All the details are perfectly rendered: cars, desks, buildings, homes, etc. The set for George’s home is the famous Shaffer residence, a mid-century redwood and glass gem built in Glendale by architect John Lautner in 1949. And the period costumes and make-up are spot on as well. Charlotte’s eye make-up in particular is something to behold, as well as the eye make-up of another character, Lois, who is a sort of situational double for Charlotte.
Speaking of which, this is definitely a film about eyes. We are so often right up to the irises of all the characters, looking at the shifting emotions drifting through their eyes and their souls. It is an intimate, pensive technique and Ford uses it beautifully, knowing that his casting of such masterful actors justifies such close-ups.
Recommend? Absolutely yes!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment