Ensofter Overrated and overhyped

FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Myriam Nys A superbly atmospheric thriller with an excellent plot and a dream cast. The indisputable star of the show is Alain Delon, more beautiful than ever, who gives the performance of his life as an amoral drifter with a liking for the high life. The expressions on his face may shift and vary but his eyes tend to maintain their blank emptiness, hinting at an almost reptilian otherness. One can easily believe that he is some kind of vampire, killing people and stealing their identity because this is the only way of propping up an hollow interior.Delon's Tom may be a monster, but he is not the only one behaving monstrously : there's a lot of bad behavior going on, fed by such unlovely fuels as entitlement, class consciousness, lack of imagination and unacknowledged homoerotic longing. The satire may be ferocious, but it's also ferociously accurate, showing the dark underside of this whole "having a gap year and bumming around Europe at daddy's expense" phenomenon. (Well, in this case we're talking more about having a gap decade, but you know what I mean.) There is a considerable contrast between the vibrant, generous beauty of the natural environment and the vile shenanigans going on between the humans. This gives the movie a surprising depth and grandeur : it almost becomes a sermon, condensing and recapitulating the Fall of Man, who was given every possible physical and mental advantage, who was offered a place of innocence and plenty, and who still succeeded in finding perdition. Milton would have loved it.The ending, I seem to remember, differs from the ending in the book which is the movie's source material. I can only say that it works well for the movie, giving the whole a final and satisfying twist.

kurosawakira In films like "L'Atalante" (1934), "Der Blaue Engel" (1930) and "Fa yeung nin wa" (2000) it's imperative that the audience falls in love with the women the camera loves. In "Plein soleil" (1960) the means is quite similar: for us to become part of the film, partners in crime, we have to invest in Deloin's Ripley, and to do so we have to fall in love with him, become dependent on him, be seduced by him just like all the characters are seduced by him. The film, for me, is thus summarized in the card game on deck: the risk is known to both parties yet it's exactly the risk that makes it worth it. The film, then, plays cards at us the whole time, the knife under its thigh, and we love it for it. Deloin, of course, is beyond superb. The nerve, the distance, the excitement, all of this in his eyes, out of breath. Clément's pacing is intimate, even cunning, and I love seeing Italy through his eyes. He builds suspense masterfully, and when the police visit Ripley at the hotel for the second time I gasped out loud at the moment when the cupboard door opened. These kinds of moments sneakily come and go, the whole balanced, believable enough to offer chills and make us accomplices.

Rueiro I saw this gem again last night after seeing "The talented Mr. Ripley" a few months ago, and with all my admiration for the excellent art direction in the Minguella film, Rene Clement's is far much better even with the liberties it takes with the novel's original plot. Its visual stylishness and the music score, and mostly Alain Delon's cool, cold-blooded and totally amoral character are the best things in this gorgeous-looking movie. About the 1999 version I have to say that Matt Damon's Ripley remains closer to Highsmith's conception of the character. But then Jude Law's Dickie is an irritating spoilt brat and Gwyneth Paltrow's Marge is an ass. Only Philip Seymour Hoffman's Freddie Miles is good because he is exactly like the character in the book: loud,a disgusting slob and a total pain in the neck. I couldn't wait for Matt Damon to kill him, really. And then, what is Cate Blanchett's character doing in the story when she didn't exist in the novel? She is nosy and another fool and only makes things worse for Ripley. The only fault I find in "Plein Soleil" is the ending. We must blame it to the censorship codes of the time: Ripley had to be found out in the last minute and caught. Of course it was unacceptable that a murderer should get away unpunished. What a shame. This film will remain as a key point in the transition of the thriller genre from the conservative 1950s to the cool 1960s: visual style, rhythm, music score, titles design... They all give us a glimpse of the good things to come: "Charade", "Topkapi", James Bond...And it also has given cinema one of its most iconic images: a shirtless Alain Delon at the helm of the boat under the sultry Mediterranean sun.

Terrell-4 Admit it. At feeding time wouldn't we rather be the snake than the mouse? Even though we might be revolted by the snake's single-minded swallowing, without benefit of a knife and fork, don't we merely shiver a bit and keep watching? Tom Ripley enjoys a good meal, too. He wants all the good things in life. He doesn't mind causing a little death now and then to get them and to keep them. He takes exception to being looked down upon. Along with Ripley's charm, good nature, easy manners and handsome looks, he has a complete lack of conscience, which combines well with his desire to enjoy what others have. Patricia Highsmith's intelligent thriller, The Talented Mr. Ripley, first introduced us to Tom. He was poor then but willing to be rich. He was the order-taking, money-holding, envious hanger-on to an over-bearing, arrogant rich young man about his own age. The death of this man, plus a spot of impersonation and forgery, some quick thinking and resourcefulness, put Tom on his path to riches. Of course, it was Tom who did the deed to his friend. Forty minutes into Plein Soleil and Tom Ripley is on his way. Rene Clement's Plein Soleil (Purple Noon), with an incredibly young and handsome Alain Delon as Tom Ripley, was the first filming of Tom's murderous and successful career. In time we also came to know Tom in Wim Wenders' The American Friend (Ripley's Game) in 1977 with Dennis Hopper as Tom; Anthony Minghella's version of The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), with Matt Damon as Tom, then Liliana Cavani's Ripley's Game in 2002 with John Malkovich as Tom. They all are fine in their own satisfyingly nasty ways, although Wim Wenders' version owes more to Wenders than to Highsmith, and Dennis Hopper as Tom is, in my opinion, a stretch. Alain Delon not only makes a completely believable young, poor, envious and callow Tom Ripley, he makes us think twice about those quaint ideas of right and wrong. Ripley plots his killings. In the case of Philippe Greenleaf, his first, Greenleaf is so arrogantly wealthy it's a pleasure to reach the moment, on a small yacht in the middle of a sun-drenched Mediterranean, when we know Tom is going to do something about it. Delon (and Clement) entice us into the conspiracy. Tom takes over Greenleaf's identity as well as a good-sized portion of Greenleaf's money, deals with Greenleaf's lover, disposes of loose ends, some alive but one soon to be dead, and deals with the police. But Tom also is an improviser, at his best when he must act or lose everything. Tension bounces back and forth between Ripley's careful planning and then his ability to act, his instincts, his resourcefulness and his luck. Ripley not only is matter-of-fact murderous, he's clever. But be prepared (and this is not a spoiler): The last two minutes are a complete cop-out. We might be a bit revolted at Tom's activities, but just as we watch that snake in the zoo, we can't help but hope Tom Ripley successfully digests all he attempts to swallow. So which Tom Ripley of the four versions do you like? Me? Damon does a fine job as the young Tom, but Delon is superb. For the older and more assured Tom, it's Malkovich in a class by himself over the incongruously cast Dennis Hopper.