The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
A human chameleon (not quite Zelig, and not quite an X-Men) finds an opportunity to exercise his skills when he covers for a piano playing acquaintance and is confused for the fellow Princeton classmate of the estranged son of an affluent middle-aged couple.
They pay him a salary and traveling expenses if he can dissuade the son to come back home, but instead finds himself enjoying the high life in Europe (“leeching” off his social betters) because, by carefully investigating and studying the young man, he’s able seduce him with (faked) common interests.
Despite never quite fitting in with the young man and his female companion. Tom Ripley’s seduction of his victim goes beyond faking a friendship and matters complicate when he becomes infatuated with him.
It’s not until an unexpected, contemptuous fourth classmate who joins them takes an immediate dislike of him and the new friendship begins to sour leading to murder and further, quite complex impersonations.
Based on a Patricia Highsmith, novel it’s interesting to speculate what Hitchcock might have made of this script which adds a homosexual element not present in the novel. Hitchcock addressed the subject of homosexuality only obliquely or by obscuring it (Rope). His adaptation would have had an entirely different flavor.
From what I’ve seen, film scripts of the time tended to drastically simplify many aspects of the novels they were adapting and it’s difficult to imagine this complexity being properly addressed in a film of the time. René Clément's version, though clever, wasn’t quite faithful to the source either.
The film takes its sweet time getting there, but by the time the police get involved is on track again. A scene with their overlaid reflections recalls Bergman's Persona.
With Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Cate Blanchett, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jack Davenport, James Rebhorn, Sergio Rubini, and Philip Baker Hall.
Check it out.
A human chameleon (not quite Zelig, and not quite an X-Men) finds an opportunity to exercise his skills when he covers for a piano playing acquaintance and is confused for the fellow Princeton classmate of the estranged son of an affluent middle-aged couple.
They pay him a salary and traveling expenses if he can dissuade the son to come back home, but instead finds himself enjoying the high life in Europe (“leeching” off his social betters) because, by carefully investigating and studying the young man, he’s able seduce him with (faked) common interests.
Despite never quite fitting in with the young man and his female companion. Tom Ripley’s seduction of his victim goes beyond faking a friendship and matters complicate when he becomes infatuated with him.
It’s not until an unexpected, contemptuous fourth classmate who joins them takes an immediate dislike of him and the new friendship begins to sour leading to murder and further, quite complex impersonations.
Based on a Patricia Highsmith, novel it’s interesting to speculate what Hitchcock might have made of this script which adds a homosexual element not present in the novel. Hitchcock addressed the subject of homosexuality only obliquely or by obscuring it (Rope). His adaptation would have had an entirely different flavor.
From what I’ve seen, film scripts of the time tended to drastically simplify many aspects of the novels they were adapting and it’s difficult to imagine this complexity being properly addressed in a film of the time. René Clément's version, though clever, wasn’t quite faithful to the source either.
The film takes its sweet time getting there, but by the time the police get involved is on track again. A scene with their overlaid reflections recalls Bergman's Persona.
With Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Cate Blanchett, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jack Davenport, James Rebhorn, Sergio Rubini, and Philip Baker Hall.
Check it out.
statistics: Posted by hermanthegerm — 6:50 PM - 1 day ago — Replies 1 — Views 148