Purple Noon (1960)

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Directed by René Clément.

Starring Erno Crisa, Marie Laforêt, Maurice Ronet, Alain Delon, Elvire Popesco.

René Clément's thriller Purple Noon stars Alain Delon as Tom Ripley, an American who travels to Europe on an all-expenses-paid mission to convince his friend, the errant playboy Philippe Greenleaf (Maurice Ronet), to travel to San Francisco at the request of the wealthy Greenleaf family. Initially, the pair enjoy the good life in Italy, often to the anger and dismay of Philippe's much put-upon fiancee Marge (Marie Laforet). However, as Tom's funds begin to run dry, it becomes more and more apparent that Philippe has no intentions of returning to the U.S., forcing Tom to consider more nefarious means of maintaining his extravagant lifestyle. Purple Noon is adapted from Patricia Highsmith's novel The Talented Mr. Ripley, and like Alfred Hitchcock's classic Strangers on a Train, also based on Highsmith's work, the theme of identity transference is dominant. The subject even extends to the homoerotic undercurrents which simmer below the surface of Tom and Philippe's relationship, setting into motion a love/hate tension which explodes during a high seas journey. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

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Reviews and discussions

movie year countdown #47 - 1960 ...
by Risselada in Risselada Blog

liked it.

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"This blog entry is part of my “movie year countdown”. To read more about that check out my first Spout filmblog entry.Plein soleil (Purple Noon)The original film version of The Talented Mr. Ripley, and so far the only movie I've seen from this series of novels. I know there are several out there.Well I don't have too much to say about the movie. There are times when things seemed to go a bit slow for me, but overall it was a fairly solid little piece of cinema.My reviews are getting lame. Whatever.Rating: 8/10 " [More]

Plein Soleil
by sarcastig in As cool as a Fruitstand

liked it.

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"Alain Delon is breathtakingly gorgeous. I probably could have watched him, photographed and frequently shirtless like he is here, reading the proverbial phonebook, and I still would have been captivated.It seems shallow to point it out. But in fact, in Plein Soleil, the first film adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley, Delon's beauty is essential. He has not just an amazing physique, but also an angelic face, a face that seems incompatible with his fundamentally evil nature. If we look just at his actions, then Ripley is a monster, a callous and cold-blooded killer with purely selfish motives, who doesn't even seem to understand love, just desire. But because we're so used to associate evil with ugliness, and beauty with truth and goodness, we go along with his story, try to understand him, try to justify his actions to ourselves, to be able to look at him and admire him without guilt.This is a very different Ripley than Matt Damon's in Mingella's 1999 film. H ... " [More]

Movie year countdown viewing pr ...
by Risselada in Risselada Blog

liked it.

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"Here’s the dilemma. I have a list of well over three thousand movies I want to see saved on IMDB. I have a subscription to Netflix and recently every time I return a DVD it has been an extremely arduous task to make the decision as to which movie I should see next. In an effort to narrow down my choices and make the process of choosing slightly less overwhelming I have devised a system, almost a bit of a game for me. Here’s how it goes.For my first film selection, I have narrowed the options down to only films that were released in the year 2006. Then after I have watched that movie, my next selection would have to be a film released in 2005. Then I would see a film from 2004, then 2003, etc. The process of deciding is still laborious, but actually quite a bit more exciting. (I'm going by IMDB as my source for release years)I have already been making a list and have also already begun watching the films. I decided this might be a good time to start fooling ... " [More]

Review by All Movie Guide

All Movie Guide

liked it.

In plot and tone, René Clément's Purple Noon is closer to the spirit of Patricia Highsmith than Anthony Minghella's high profile 1999 adaptation of The Talented Mr. Ripley. Where Minghella attempted to give the characters psychological motivation, Clement presents Tom Ripley has nothing other than a self-serving killer. Henri Decaë's cinematography is as pathologically removed from the action as Tom; the aristocratic Mediterranean backdrop is somehow flat and sickly unalluring. With an impassive eye and steady pace Ripley's crimes unfold with cold-blooded rational. This story telling deliberately wrecks havoc with the audience's sympathies. Tom is a villain but we can't help but identify with his attempts to avoid capture for his murder, and we are ruthlessly pushed and pulled between feeling anxiety for his safety and for the welfare of his potential victims. Alain Delon is both a blank slate and an eager young man on the make, like Tony Curtis' Sidney Falco with no qualms about making compromises because he has no morals to compromise. The film similarly refuses to take a moral stance on its characters. With her Ripley books, Highsmith deliberately played into the gothic frisson elicited by watching a monstrously bad deed go unpunished and Clement also understands the allure of a well-structured bit of entertainment that dares the audience to indulge their darkest instincts. In 1996, Purple Noon was theatrically re-released in the United States by Martin Scorsese in conjunction with Miramax Zoe. ~ Michael Buening, All Movie Guide

Tags: foreign , romance , murder , identity-theft , fake
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