"It takes time in the morning for me to become George, time to adjust to what is expected of George and how he is to behave." —George Falconer, British university professor

George Falconer (played touchingly and austerely by Colin Firth) has been living with grief for eight months. We find him a month after the Cuban Missile Crisis, and eight months after the accidental death of his longtime lover, Jim (Matthew Goode). Falconer speaks to us through a voiceover to welcome us into his life, while the camera maintains close shots of his face throughout, so closely that we feel his grief almost palpably. His life is in shambles, his love has been lost, and whatever meaning he had in the world has been stripped from it.

Throughout this day, November 30th, 1962, we watch as Falconer puts on a good face, or at least the best he has, attempting to push himself back into the realm of the living from the dead, with the help of his work, of a friend (Julianne Moore), and of a new love interest (Nicholas Hoult). But nothing can take the place of his Jim, and Falconer knows that even if the audience does not. The grief seems to have overwhelmed him, and to have corrupted every last morsel of joy that he might have left. But this film is about hope, hope found in relationships and community, even if they are not the relationships we'd first imagine for ourselves.

The homosexual issue can't be removed from the context of the movie, but it's this relationship which highlights grief anyone could feel. Isn't part of Falconer's problem that he wasn't allowed to publicly mourn Jim (or their dog) because Jim's family won't have anything to do with him? Doesn't that take his grief to a whole new level because they choose to act as if there is no way that the relationship between Falconer and Jim could've been something real (echoed by Julianne Moore's drunk)? But the homosexual relationship isn't the focus of the movie, it's the grief that Falconer feels, the way he's unable to let go and move on with his life.

I found that the exploration of putting on a false face for everyone else, to hide anything, to be an interesting exploration in the hands (and face) of Firth. When you add grief into the equation, it's a no-holds-barred look at what it means to be human in the face of death, to be human after love has gone. Firth's Falconer grasps for anything, like the figurative struggle from under the water to break the surface, and in the end, the movie would find him discovering happiness in the little things. From my perspective, minus the ending, that wouldn't really allow him to completely turn around.

Unfortunately, there's no long-lasting meaning for him to find there, and that's how many of us trip through our lives. Thankfully, there is hope for this life in the community of faith, and in the future hope of the kingdom of God. That's what helps me on the days when I don't want to get out of bed and be me, or even when something comes along which is even more painful, like the death of a friend or betrayal that cuts to the core. Falconer doesn't find anything long-lasting in the end, but it gives him enough to make it through the day.