I figured you had posted on the film because I think I vaguely remember discussing it in a tangential way. At least I think you’re why it hit my “films I want to see” radar screen.

What got me most about Firth’s performance was his economical, yet totally believeable, portrayal of bereavement swallowed. The film’s historical setting did not allow for men in general to grieve outwardly, let alone gay men over gay lovers. Yet I also got the sense that it was less about his constriction being completely about his sexuality in a repressed, yet supposedly open era…and was more about the contained nature of the self. Certainly that’s in the writer’s parenthetical.

I find your point on withholding in the teacher/student relationship quite interesting…perhaps it was at play too in Julianne Moore’s character as well. One gets the sense that this is the first time she’s broached the “if only you were straight” topic with any kind of sincerity.

I agree that the film was strongest when it was exploring the nature of grief rather than the historical constraints.

Certainly a film worth seeing. Not one I need to own though. Guess that’s how I’m judging films these days of streaming and download.