Let’s get this out of the way at the start here, this movie is all about Colin Firth. Much of the buzz around this film concerns Firth’s acting and deservedly so. He is a fantastic actor to begin with and here is an absolutely fascinating character that he can really sink his teeth into. The amount of emotion that he brings to this film is outstanding and his nomination for Best Actor is certainly justified. In essence this film is a exploration of grief at its most base level. The loss of his long term partner irreparably damages George Falconer to the point that he feels suicide is the only answer. Over the course of a single day we witness George trying to tie up the loose ends in his life so he can finally end it. The story is simple and does not try and overwhelm the viewer with a complex narrative. Rather, Tom Ford allows Firth and the supporting actors to really explore grief and the impact that it can have.

The main problem with this movie is that it falls apart in the final act. The first third of the movie establishes George as a character and defines him very well. We meet George, who is struggling to come to terms with the loss of his partner eight months ago, trying to wrap up everything important in his life so he can kill himself. The first act establishes the character and his motivations so perfectly. The second act possibly drags on a little bit to much, but Julianne Moore is superb in her role as George’s best friend. The final act is quite troubling. Gorge’s interaction with one of his students is fantastic. Also the flashbacks which give us snippets of the relationship which ended so abruptly are subtle and give great insight into the character. Really the problem lies in the last few minutes of the film and the way in which they chose to end the story. There were a number of ways to end the story and unfortunately the one that they chose was odd and quite a jarring end to a slow and deliberate movie.

For a first time filmmaker Ford does a remarkably good job with this movie. It is, however, not without its faults. The overuse of slow motion ruins some of the pacing in the second half of the film. Furthermore, the constant switching between muted and warm colour tones becomes distracting. It is easy to see where Ford was going with this but this obvious film technique feels like it pandering to the audience. A good movie should be able to portray its emotion in its characters rather than not so subtle camera effects. The score, while great in places, felt a little overpowering in some scenes. This is a very competent film with an outstanding performance by Colin Firth. The disappointing third act does prevent the movie from being considered a true classic but it will be interesting to see where Ford can take his movies from here.