Purple Noon
by René Clément
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Actor: Alain Delon, Erno Crisa, Frank Latimore, Marie Laforêt, Maurice RonetDirector: René Clément
Brand: Buena Vista Home Video
Cinematographer: Henri Decaë
Writer: René Clément
Editor: Françoise Javet
Writer: Patricia Highsmith
Writer: Paul Gégauff
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; English (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Color, DVD, Letterboxed, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 112 minutes
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Times Film Corporation
DVD Reviews of Purple Noon
DVD Review: Tom Ripley and murder: A match made in heaven
Summary: 4 Stars
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. The DVD transfer of Plein Soleil is adequate and barebones. The movie deserves a first-class release.
Description of Purple Noon
PURPLE NOON - DVD MovieA member of the middle generation of French filmmakers between Renoir and the New Wave, René Clément was a strong visual stylist who tried on different subjects and genres: documentaries, semidocumentaries, wartime dramas, comedies. In Purple Noon he showed a strong facility for feverish film noir, and the results are quite memorable. Based on Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley, the film stars Alain Delon as the notoriously amoral Ripley (a character also played, albeit quite differently, by Dennis Hopper in Wim Wenders's The American Friend). Envious of a playboy pal (Maurice Ronet) having a luxurious time on the Mediterranean, Ripley decides to murder the man and assume his identity. The subsequent suspense concerns the dirty deed done and the aftermath of complicated cover-ups, and in the best Hitchcockian sense you can never quite tell whose side you're on as Ripley's efforts at survival are followed in meticulous detail. Mesmerizing to watch, saturated in light and color, and topped by Delon at his most icy, Purple Noon is a terrific discovery for enthusiasts of film noir and the French cinema. --Tom Keogh
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