Griffin: A Single Man (mise en scene of a still frame)

The dominant figure of this still frame from Tom Ford’s debut film, “A Single Man” is George, played by Colin Firth. In the center of the shot, he slouches on his desk, facing a wall in his university office.  The lighting is muted and somber, the color palate ranging in the melancholy tome from colors beige to gray. As only one character is present in this shot, character proxemics do not apply, but the camera proxemic is public. The camera mimics the distance of a colleague peeping in on George’s office, on the threshold between the office space and his personal, work space.  This public proxemic contrasts with the intimate, thoughtful moment that seems to have entranced George into a stupor. The viewer feels he or she is violating George’s personal space. He is facing the back wall of his office, and so has turned his back on his professional life, symbolized by his paper-cluttered desk. He is trying to participate in public life, continue the day-to-day routine of work, but ultimately, his grief will not permit him to function unaffected. Also, the office seems to envelop the character, drowning him in gray walls, and the pulled curtains over the windows only contribute to George’s confinement.  The scene from which this still frame comes finds George contemplating his suicide, prompted by the recent death of his partner in a car crash. All light, inspiration and hope in his life has been extinguished, and the low key lighting, the enclosing space, the closed windows and doors all serve to relay to the viewer this overwhelming sadness for George’s loss.


"A Single Man" film trailer