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Waiting to have my haircut by Darleen at 7 Bucks A Whack, I passed up the current edition of Maxim for last month's Interview with Tom Ford. I was gobsmacked to learn this tid-bit:"When I come home...I wear no clothes until I leave. I eat naked. I do everything completely naked." Thanks, Mr. Ford! I have not been able to think of anything else for hours.In the interview in Interview, Ford gave some tips on being a modern gentleman:“Putting your best foot forward when you step outside each day to greet the world. It’s a show of respect to others around you. “You have to be passionate, you have to be engaged & you have to be contributing to the world.” “Manners are very important & actually knowing when things are appropriate. I always open doors for women, I carry their coat, I make sure that they’re walking on the inside of the street. Stand up when people arrive at & leave the dinner table.” “True gentleman are not pretentious, racist or judgmental.” “Gentleman should not wear shorts or flip-flops in the city. Flip-flops are for the beach & shorts are for the tennis court."
Not only am I inspired by people who, along with real talent, are able to "brand" themselves, but I want to follow in the footsteps of past blog posts: Martha Stewart, Andy Warhol & Keith Haring. Tom Ford has not only made himself a part of his own product, but he is his own muse. Every time I have come upon a print ad for Tom Ford, who is truly talented & designs beautiful clothing; I have earmarked the magazine ad & said to the Husband- "wow, can you believe how beautiful & hot he is? Plus... the clothing & accessories are amazing". The Husband concurred. Today is Tom Ford's birthday. I would be very pleased to be snowed-in at a mountain cabin for a few days with Tom Ford. I would try my best to leave him inspired. He is Daniel Craig's designer of choice, & that is all the endorsement I need. I love you, Tom Ford.... but alas, he has has been with partner Richard Buckley (14 years his senior) for 23 years. At least he needs a "daddy".I am grateful to Mr. Ford for his 1st film- A Single Man. It was, for me, a masterful directorial debut. Happy Birthday, Tom. Have your people call my people.
The Husband & I do not often have a day off together, & so yesterday, I took a day off work so that we could have a nice Wednesday of connecting with a movie & lunch. So civilized & restrained, sort of like George Falconer, the English literature professor at a Los Angeles college in the early 1960s, who is adrift in a world of sun dappled Southern California sensuality. The rose blossoms blaze with surreal heat; & the bored students in his classroom are achingly pretty. George, a dapper, & because it is 1962- a closeted gay man, sees it all through eyes clouded with grief & loneliness. A late night a phone call announced the death of his longtime partner in a car crash. The voice (in a nice touch, the voice belongs to Mad Men’s Jon Hamm) on the line explained that George is excluded from the funeral. It's "for family only." Pain creases George's face but his voice remains steady. The tears don't begin until the phone is hung back up.
"Just get through the goddamn day," George tells himself next morning in the bathroom mirror. He dresses in his fastidiously, impeccable suite & tailored shirt. He heads to work with a loaded revolver in his briefcase. He's all dressed up with nowhere to go. A Single Man is the first film directed by fashion icon Tom Ford. It is as gorgeous as you would expect, & surprisingly heartfelt. Dan Bishop's lush production design & cinematographer Eduard Grau's inventive visuals, make every single frame is as sleek as a page from a 1962 GQ layout. The surface effects contribute to the emotionally complex story. Grau's palette shifts from monochromes to vibrant colors depending on George's moods. All the urgent passion he cannot show is expressed in turns of the color wheel. Abel Korzeniowski's score is haunting, evocative of passion & loss.
Adapted from Christopher Isherwood's novella (which reads as an interior monologue), with minimal narration & masterful film technique, Ford tells the story sensitively, but not solemnly. There is dry humor in George's suicidal demeanor. Clocks tick like the toll of funeral chimes, but George’s life keeps handing him reasons to carry on. His attempts to kill himself are continually frustrated. He can't get the bed pillows arranged quite right so as not to make a mess, or there's a distracting knock at the door, or a dinner invitation from his best friend Charley (Julianne Moore), another British expatriate who likes her martinis ("Tanqueray, I like the color of the bottle”), gossip & Booker T's Green Onions on the turntable. George is unsure how to handle the insistent advances of a handsome, sexy, enigmatic student (Nicholas Hoult, the little lad from "About a Boy," all grown up & hunky) & a Spanish would be James Dean (Jon Kortajarena) who tries to hustle him in a parking lot. George's lust & lust for life keep engaging him.
The Husband & I have always championed Colin Firth as an actor. We think he is the best Mr. Darcy ever. Firth is amazing & deeply moving as George. This is his finest performance in a long career of 1st rate work. Gay professional men in the 1960s couldn't wear their hearts on their sleeves. Firth captures George's repression & wounded dignity in a very still performance with deep undercurrents of feeling. His boozy dinner scene with Moore is the film's highlight. Charley & George shared a long ago fling & she still carries a torch for him. The tension between her fiery neurosis and his icy decorum sizzles when they reminisce, flirt & fight as old friends do. It's one of those rare, rich scenes where we have the feeling of eavesdropping on actual friends rather than watching a performance.
It is 1 day later & I can’t shake this film & all of it’s small telling moments: 3 “bad girls” in leather jackets & beehive hair, smoking cigs in the parking lot of the college, the smog pink sky & giant billboard for Psycho at the liquor store parking lot, a scene where George smells the face of a pretty terrier in a parked car, the pretty little neighbor girl who tells George that her father thinks that he is “a little light in the loafers” in a scene at the bank. I was stunned by the film’s beauty & craft, & deeply moved by George’s journey through 1 day, a day he plans to be his last. The Husband smartly remarked- “the moral seems to be: life can be made worth living again by a hot, thin young man with a fine ass.” I think Colin Firth can start practicing some award speeches. Interestingly, I felt that the film took place close to New Years Eve, as George & Charlie discuss resolutions & the neighbors have a large party. Hmmm.
