NEW YORK — He’s earning some of the most illustrious reviews of his 25-year film career for playing an anguished gay widower in A Single Man.

Too bad Colin Firth gets zero recognition at home from his sons, Luca, 8, and Matteo, 6.

“My now-8-year-old, when he first came to visit a film set when he was about 3, saw a crane with a camera on it and was fascinated. Every time we went past a construction site, he asked, ‘Is that where you work?’ He so wanted to believe that I was a construction worker. I did not want to break his heart that no, actually, I put on makeup and frocks for a living.”

The actor does plenty more than just play dress-up in A Single Man, now in theaters. Firth’s performance as George Falconer — a haunted, lonely and finicky middle-aged British professor in the 1960s coping with life alone after his partner of 16 years (Matthew Goode) dies in a car crash — earned him best-actor honors at the Venice Film Festival in September. And it has landed Firth, 49, on the short list for what would be his first Oscar nomination.

“It’s about time,” said Firth’s close friend Stanley Tucci, who co-starred with him in the 2001 HBO film Conspiracy. “There’s a real subtlety to Colin and what he does. It’s one of the reasons he hasn’t gotten these accolades sooner. We know he’s very handsome, but there’s so much depth and intelligence there, too.

“There’s never any kind of selfishness in his performances. He’s always supporting the film as a whole.”

Firth already has legions of devoted fans, thanks to his portrayal of dashing Mr. Darcy in the 1995 BBC production of Pride and Prejudice, plus his dual turns as tall, dark and handsome lawyer Mark Darcy in both Bridget Jones comedies.

In A Single Man, based on a short story by Christopher Isherwood, Firth meticulously and methodically plans his own suicide because he cannot envision a future without Jim. If Robin Williams’ turn in The Birdcage was a gaudy Pucci scarf, then Firth’s George is a somber, austere Jil Sander suit.

“He’s not a queeny guy. Why would he be? He doesn’t define himself by his sexuality. He’s too secure,” Firth said. “He’s dealing with a lot of things, but not that. It didn’t occur to me to play that up.”

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