Hacker Cinema
Purple Noon
Plein soleil
1960 · Film · 118 min
Directed by René Clément
Tom Ripley is a talented mimic, moocher, forger and all-around criminal improviser; but there's more to Tom Ripley than even he can guess.
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4 comments on Hacker News
He indeed used to speak about him in the third person and would casually say "Alain Delon did this" (instead of "I did this"). He was widely mocked for it but he claimed it was a sign of "humility" (?!) because it was a way to avoid using "I" or "me"...
He became a huge international star in 1960 with Purple Noon, the first (of many) adaptations of Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley. He was 25 and from that moment onward was recognized the world over as the sexiest and most handsome man alive. He continued to work with some of the most acclaimed European directors and starred in over 80 movies.
It's probably difficult to handle that level of fame and stardom if you're not prepared for it (or even if you are).
For anyone who wants to see what color movies used to look like, I just watched Purple Noon. It's so beautiful you can just turn the sound off and use it as moving wallpaper.
I like the Ripley novels too and I agree with you that reading her as a "gay icon" is detrimental. I was commenting on her personality and eccentricities and I would avoid reading those into her books.
> Mostly those movies miss the main point of the character: he's egocentric, manipulative and ultimately sleeps like a baby without any guilt whatsoever once he's done murdering whoever stops him from that. All the tension in the books is about avoiding getting caught, which usually leads to additional victims. Not very compatible with the average Hollywood movie of course but it makes for an interesting anti hero.
I read Tom as a rebuttal to Crime and Punishment.
As far as the adaptations, Ripley's Game is my favorite. Malkovich gets so many good lines. Purple Noon is pretty good too (Alain Delon is great) though the ending is weak.
I like to see a return to technicolor vibrancy in some media IP. Some directors, like PTA, still use it to great effect, but when you watch some old Powell and Pressburger films, or Bad Day at Blackrock, or even Purple Noon, you see these beautiful colours that don't assault your eyes in neon brightness; instead, you get these beautiful rich tones that seem solid and deep. It seems like now a lot of colourists just go for overwrought colourgrading, insanely crushed blacks, or slamming a movie into blue-orange land.