Undiscovered Beauty

She’s one of the most decorated and dominant champions of any sport in history but she’s hardly talked about.

One person who has created unbelievably high standards for the male collective is British Oscar winner Colin Firth. The 55-year-old has been in the film industry for over 3 decades and has a habit of being cast as either a leading man or a stiff-yet-interesting romantic interest for the average or relatable ingenue. He has made it difficult, with his posh persona, for women to allow for anything less than approachable cavalier disposition from their own day to day. Here are 3 of Colin Firth’s standard setting roles, ranging anywhere from romance to action.

1. Galahald from Kingsman: The Secret Service

We start off this list with one of Firth’s most recent films. Kingsman is an action-adventure movie, focused on a secret society of British spies that protect the world from secret terrorist threats. Firth was 55 years old when he co-starred alongside 26-year-old, Taron Egerton, and gave Egerton a run for his money when it came to the execution of stunts and action sequences. Firth was almost superhuman while he performed in the legendary church scene. But why would this film about action, adventure, sex, and gadgets make this list compared to more emotional and dramatic roles?

Suits. I believe that there are two types of filmgoers, those who are interested in the types of muscle-bound rippling bodies and sex appeal of movies like Magic Mike, and those who are more interested in a sharp-witted and sharp-dressed man who can think and talk his way out of any situation. Personally, l refer to these kinds of clever, well-dressed films as suit porn, and they are slowly being incorporated more and more into American Films, with a similar type of man being featured in last year’s summer reboot, The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

2. Jamie from Love, Actually

Although he may not have had a prominent role in this ensemble cast, Firth managed to give us an enduring performance as Jamie in Love Actually. Jamie is one of the first characters featured in this film, with his storyline focused on his recovery from a deceiving partner. Jamie decides to get away by retreating to his lakehouse in Marseille, France, where he’s introduced to his new Portuguese housekeeper, Aurelia. She knows no English and he doesn’t speak her native Portuguese, so both of them manage to communicate enough to get by. But the relationship that grows between Aurelia and Jamie is one that flourishes on what isn’t said. There is a definite spark between them both, and both end up expressing their passionate feelings for each other, but instead of the typical love story moment of kissing in each others arms, the language barrier between the two of them blocked what could have been his soulmate.

So what could Jamie do, sit and wallow? Instead, he attempts to overcome his lingual disadvantage of not being able to express his thoughts to the woman he loves. Jamie attempts to learn Portuguese to tell Aurelia his feelings, and that’s when every woman watching the film for the first time simultaneously looked at their significant other with a look of slight disappointment. Most women crave a grandiose gesture as an expression of affection, and this is something that Firth’s display of Jamie’s love nails perfectly.

3. Mark Darcy from Bridget Jones’s Diary

I saved this entry for the last spot on my list because it is one of his best romantic roles. In 2001’s Bridget Jones Diary, Firth plays London-based human rights attorney, Mark Darcy, who knew Bridget as a child. Darcy is reluctant about Bridget at first, seeing nothing but all of her flaws, but by the end of the movie he famously learns to love her, “Just the way she is.” And that level of acceptance is what set all women’s expectations for what they look for in a partner, someone who will love them for all of her shortcomings.

You may be wondering why I didn’t choose Mr. Darcy from the Pride and Prejudice television miniseries from the 1990s over Mark Darcy. It was reported that the author of the original novel for Bridget Jones’s Diary, said she based Mark Darcy off of Colin Firth’s portrayal of Darcy from the miniseries. So in a way, Mark Darcy is almost entirely Colin Firth’s creation.

Colin Firth’s roles have shown people everywhere that there is no such thing as standards that are too high, because underneath a grand appearance, there can also be a loving, flawed person who will love you for who you are. The important thing to remember from representations of fantastic leading men is that you can look to your favorite characters in films and allow yourself to find your own leading man in your own life. You can look and find someone who encompasses every trait you love outside of the silver screen.