This Movie Burned a Hole in My Soul That Will Never Ever Heal

For Valentine's Day, I decided to write about something I absolutely hate. But, knowing that it is going to be about something that I hate, let me start by saying I love Colin Firth. Love him. And it's not just because he is Mr. Darcy. At least not the Pride and Prejudice Mr. Darcy. Although I do absolutely love him in that. But, the first time I saw him was in "Bridget Jones' Diary" (as Mark Darcy), and then I went and watched him in Pride and Prejudice. He has had so many wonderful roles and I have loved him in each and every one of them. And then came "A Single Man". He was nominated for the Academy Award for his performance as George, a closeted gay professor in the 1960's who is mourning the death of his lover. I try to see all the Oscar-nominated movies, at least the major ones, and this one also had Mr. Firth in it, so I rented it and sat down to enjoy what I expected would be a fantastic film.

And then I got to the end of the movie. And based solely on that ending, I now list this movie as my most-hated movie ever. EVER. To this day, I still randomly get angry about the ending. I can say, out loud, "I hate that movie" and a good number of my friends know exactly what movie I mean.

I am not going to reveal the ending, just in case you want to subject yourself to it, but suffice it to say it destroys all good feelings of love and hope and life that you may have had up until that while watching. I will say, on his behalf, that Mr. Firth was wonderful and I don't blame him for the ending, much the way I don't blame the waiter if something is wrong with my food. But oh dear God I hate the ending and so I hate the movie. Viscerally. It has been close to four years since I saw this movie, but my hatred for it still feels brand new.

Maybe putting these words down will finally exorcise the demon that is "the ending of the movie 'A Single Man'", but I don't hold out a lot of hope for that. Know why? The ending of the movie "A Single Man" sucked all hope out of me. Man. I hate that movie.