Don't You Want Somebody To Love? Plus: A Single Man (2009)

Jefferson Airplane: Somebody to Love


A Serious Man (2009) Trailer


A Single Man (2009) Trailer

Listening to the song Somebody To Love in A Serious Man (2009), I'm writing this review on A Single Man (2009).

It is said that the movie is Tom Ford's , the director, personal story. I think filmmakers' creative input some kind or another must come from personal experiences. I agree that life experience is crucial to story-telling.

The story is about a middle class professor's, whose homosexual partner has just died, decision to kill himself by the end of the day. The story is mainly about his internal conflict. However, the side casts have some influence to his decision. Charley, his best friend and ex-girl friend partied with him that night and had a discussion about their relationship. I thought the plot would be about euthanasia, but I was wrong.

On the way to home, two men approach him at different circumstances. One is a man from Madrid outside a store, the other is one of his student. They both flirt with him in a subtle way. And you can't help to think: how come he has so many romantic encounters in a day?

He's mourns the death of his partner, and is very hysterical and depressed. Would he commit suicide by the end of the day?

Spoilers below:
I think the ending is brilliant. That's how you get an Oscar nomination. If the story ends with him burning his will, it would be too plain. Instead, the twist lies when he chooses to live, he died of a heart attack. It's so out of control and ironic.

Ending this way would leave some kind of regret and makes the audience think. It's meaningful.

Every angle is planned, from the way he opens his drawer, picks up his pistol, packs his suitcase to the lining of rifles and alcohols on the wall behind. I think the director is a perfectionist. He's obsessive with perfection would easily lead him to depression. That's why he came up with such a topic.

To conclude, the simplified formula of Oscar nomination = Psychology (life & death instinct, childhood ==> complex internal conflict of characters and meaningful of life) + unresolved ending

See you next time!