“A Single Man”

Starring: Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Nicholas Hoult

Director: Tom… “A Single Man”

Starring: Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Nicholas Hoult

Director: Tom Ford

Studio: The Weinstein Company

Grade: A

Like the best pieces of fashion, a great film should captivate, inspire and fit the audience perfectly, complementing and challenging our notions of the familiar and the controversial.

It is no coincidence, then, that fashion icon Tom Ford — known for his bold reinvention of the Gucci label — is more than capable of translating his skills behind the fabric to taking a seat behind a camera. His directorial debut, “A Single Man,” is easily one of the most stunningly concise and artistic films of the year.

Adapted from the Charles Isherwood novel of the same name, “A Single Man” details one day in 1962 Los Angeles, on what is supposed to be the last day of heartbroken Brit George Falconer’s life (Colin Firth). Having lost his male lover in a car crash months before, the film begins with a dream sequence of a naked George struggling underwater, grasping to catch his breath. A subsequent voiceover, paired with a sequence of him getting ready for the day, makes it apparent that George is going to kill himself.

The film maintains this level of bleakness throughout most of its running time. Over the course of his day, we see the drunken, lonely antics of his friend Charlotte (a wonderful Julianne Moore) and the flirtation of one of George’s students, Kenny (Nicholas Hoult), at the Los Angeles university where he teaches.

Though it seems so externally simplistic, “A Single Man” rises to filmmaking greatness with the extraordinary amount of thought placed into every scene and every sequence. From an obvious symbolic fixation on the eye to the exaggeration of every homoerotic circumstance that George encounters — shirtless tennis players, a hustler’s offer for a cigarette and more — the film plays out like a perfectly fitted suit. It’s concise, with no part feeling out of place or dragging in celluloid fabric.

Firth is magnificent and Oscar nominee-worthy within the first 15 minutes alone. He portrays a man who has forgotten what it is to extract simple beauty from the world around him, and the transformation he makes over the course of the day — though barely noticeable — is pitch-perfect.

The film has already drawn numerous comparisons to 2006’s “Brokeback Mountain,” but “A Single Man” is the more thoughtful of the two films. George is comfortable, if appropriately silent, about his sexuality — there is no self-loathing, and the love he felt toward the dead Jim (Matthew Goode) transcends the discussion of homosexuality of which “Brokeback” was so limited.

Of course, the film is full of gay — if not sexually explicit — content, and paired with its heavy art-house tendencies, “A Single Man” will very likely be alienating to a number of viewers.

Then again, that just extends the parallel between Ford’s contribution to fashion and to film: Not everyone can appreciate it, but if you have the eye, you will see he has crafted something truly special.