Character Analysis
(Avoiding Spoilers)
Grew Up… in cold, stuffy England. George likes to reminisce about his days in London with a glamorous fellow ex-pat named Charley.
Living… the last day of his life. The suicidal George has been alone ever since his lover, Jim, passed away in a sudden car accident. As he puts it: “For the past 8 months, waking up has actually hurt. Cold realization that I’m still here slowly sets in. I was never terribly fond of waking up. I was never one to jump out of bed and greet the day with a smile, like Jim was.”
Profession… English professor at UCLA. George spends his days teaching undergraduates the pleasures of fiction.
Interests… the little details. George, who plans to end his own life at the end of the day, is taking the opportunity to appreciate the small things in life: his secretary’s lipstick, his students’ curiosity, and the scenic drive down his picturesque street.
Relationship Status… widowed. George and Jim had been together for sixteen years before Jim’s untimely death.
Challenge… finding the will to live. George sinks deeper and deeper into depression each day, believing that he has nothing to live for.
Personality… morose and shy. George’s proper manners and uptight personality make it difficult for him to relate to most people. As a homosexual in the 1960s, he’s always felt like a bit of an outsider.
Get to Know him in...
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Adapted from a 1964 novel of the same name, the film follows a day in the life of George Falconer, a British college professor reeling with the recent and sudden loss of his longtime partner. This traumatic event makes George challenge his own will to live as he seeks the console of close friend Charley who is struggling with her own questions about life.
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Welcome to sunny suburban 1960s Southern California. George is a gay middle-aged English professor, adjusting to solitude after the tragic death of his young partner. He is determined to persist in the routines of his former life. A Single Man follows him over the course of an ordinary twenty-four hours. Behind his British reserve, tides of grief, rage, and loneliness surge—but what is revealed is a man who loves being alive despite all the everyday injustices. When Christopher Isherwood's A Single Man first appeared, it shocked many with its frank, sympathetic, and moving portrayal of a gay man in maturity. Isherwood's favorite of his own novels, it now stands as a classic lyric meditation on life as an outsider.
