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Rating:
Very interesting. A refined film, with the protagonist, Colin Firth, delivering an outstanding performance. It's no coincidence that two years later, he would further solidify his status as an artist with a memorable performance in "The King's Speech."
The director, Tom Ford, is a big name in high fashion, as if Armani got behind the camera, so to speak. The result is remarkable. The film unfolds elegantly, sinuously, and slowly, more than slow, muffled. Muffled like the mind of George, an English professor at an American college in the early '60s. George has suffered a significant loss. His partner, his great love, tragically died in a car accident. George is utterly devastated.
The narrative plot, centered on the loss of love, is rather simple, and the easy tears, a practice in which American cinema excels at inducing by all means, with the most coarse and crude methods, is just around the corner. Thankfully, none of this happens.
Yes, the film is still poignant, melancholic, and the initial premise might suggest it focuses on the theme of homosexuality. Still, in reality, it's not the case. Yes, homosexuality is addressed; see, for example, the notable scene where the professor, in class, talks about minorities and fear, a significant scene in the film's context. But the film actually talks to us mainly about life and its meaning, the relationships between human beings, the passage of time, and its positions (past, present, future). And it does so with simple, direct, never trivial dialogues.
It must be noted that the film is based on a successful book, so it's reasonable to assume that for the dialogues and the voice-over by Firth himself, talking about himself, a lot was drawn from the book. Also noteworthy is Nicholas Hoult's performance with an intense gaze and an angelic face, truly beautiful, as the student who is 'fixated' on George, his professor, and who wants to establish a connection with him at all costs. At first, I didn't particularly appreciate the ending, but after a few minutes, I considered it to be coherent with the main message.
A film to watch.
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