This small scale but very impressive film is based on a somewhat autobiographical Christopher Isherwood novel. George is a middle-aged English professor at a small Los Angeles college in the early nineteen-sixties. It was a time when cold-war paranoia butted up against youthful expectations of change. This is California before anyone has heard the term hippy even though the main protagonists have dabbled in hallucinogens. George is still wracked by grief over the death of his gay lover several months previously, and we follow him through the course of the single day during which he will determine his own fate.

What is so impressive about Tom Ford’s debut as a director is his absolute sure-footedness. He exercises complete control over composition, pacing, art direction and ambience to fully convey the anguish of loss and its possible amelioration through rekindled desire. I believe he goes a bit too far in the digital manipulation of colour to convey mood (even within the space of a single frame, or during an unfolding shot) but that is a minor quibble. And crucially Ford has cast actors who relish this sort of opportunity. Julianne Moore as Charley, George’s former girlfriend from London, is excellent in speech and manner, and their dinner-date is a model of heightening and relaxing tension. As for Colin Firth as George, this should mark a sea-change in the roles he is offered. His is an exceptional portrayal of a ‘proper’ Brit in the land of plenty; a serious academic drawn towards youth, beauty and hedonism, concealing his sexuality from all but his most intimate acquaintances. As ever, it is in the still moments that we see a film actor’s special qualities.

Set design, hair and costume ring absolutely true, and Abel Korzeniowski has provided a delicious orchestral score. It’s a film which lives in the mind.