Many filmmakers struggle for years to hone their skills and learn the nuances of their craft.

Undoubtedly, some of them are green with envy when an untrained outsider decides to make a movie…and does an outstanding job of it.

Tom Ford is a noted fashion designer and former creative director at Gucci. He has successfully adapted a Christopher Isherwood novel, “A Single Man,” into an effective and affecting drama.

But Ford had a little help. He collaborated with another newcomer, David Scearce, on the screenplay and assembled a first rate cast to bring it to life.

Colin Firth (“Mamma Mia!”) plays George Falconer, a British college professor who teaches at a Southern California college in the early 1960s.

George is a gay man living the closeted lifestyle dictated by the times. His quiet world is upended when his lover Jim (Matthew Goode from “Leap Year”) dies in an automobile accident.

The story takes place on a single day, November 30, 1962, several months after Jim’s death. As the despondent George plans is suicide, he thinks back on his life with Jim and his relationship with his best friend Charley (Julianne Moore from “Blindness”), a woman he once slept with. Charley has carried the torch for George years while suffering from a series of failed relationships.

One of George’s students, a gay boy named Kenny Potter (Nick Hoult from “The Weatherman”), has picked up on George’s melancholy…as well as his sexual orientation. His attempts to comfort George are tender and awkward.

George’s “final” day also includes a brief encounter with a male prostitute (Spanish supermodel Jon Kortajarena ) as well as familiar engagements with neighbors and co-workers that take on unusual weight.

The movie builds tension as we wonder whether or not George will go through with his plan to do himself in.

Firth is splendid, offering an intelligent and layered performance as a man who has grown weary of a world in which he’s had to suppress the most profound emotions of his life.

Moore is equally good, capturing the pathetic sadness of a boozy woman who is facing a solitary future.

Ford and the design team behind TV’s drama “Mad Men” ably capture the look and feel of the 1960s. Spanish cinematographer Eduard Grau’s canny use of color is also a big plus.

“A Single Man” is a meticulously made and heartbreaking story. Ford has capably adapted his ample artistic vision to a whole new medium. (R) Rating: ***1/2

* Avoid at all costs
** Only if you're bored
*** Good movie
**** Well worth your time
***** Be sure to see it