Firth's portrayal of a man repressing his grief while being unable to repress his instinct for love and for life is excellent and moving, while Ford's balancing of depth and surface is precarious but ultimately winning.
Ford's eye for period detail is exact; brief cutaways, incisive dialogue, and charged glances telegraph the cold-war paranoia and sexual alienation of the early 60s.
A Single Man still stands as a vivid portrait of life behind a veil, and Firth certainly delivers one of the best performances of the year.
His first time out, Ford has made one of the best films of the year.