MINDLESS MUSINGS

***SPOILER ALERT***

Both films use the same names for Tom, Marge and Freddy. In Purple Noon, Marge’s carefree partner is named Phillipe. In The Talented Mr. Ripley he is named Dickie. I will refer to this character as Phillipe for both films for simplicity’s sake.

I have not read the book, so I will not be referring to it. Although I understand it has differences from both films, not just the inevitable lost in translation between the written word and cinema, but actual character and plot stuff. I hope the omission of a third comparison will save us some time anyway.

Two films made 39 years apart based on the same source material utilize the same characters, settings and plot points, yet leave vastly different impressions on the audience (I can only speak for myself of course).

Purple Noon is a 1960 European film based on the 1955 novel by Patricia Highsmith, ‘The Talented Mr Ripley’. Hollywood turned out a version, using the book’s title, in 1999. Both films follow a similar structure:

• Tom Ripley covets the luxurious lifestyle of Phillipe and Marge.
• Phillipe, being a self-absorbed playboy, eventually gets bored with Tom and mistreats him (the how of this is one key variation between versions).
• Tom kills Phillipe (another important contrast).
• Tom uses his numerous talents to not only cover up the crime, but to also steal Phillipe’s identity and lifestyle. This is the crux of the films and the grist of the thrills and, while hitting the same key events, both films deliver unique obstacles for Tom to overcome.
• In both he bullshits Marge and plays cat and mouse with the police.
• In both he is almost unmasked by Phillipe’s philandering friend Freddy. In both this is Freddy’s fatal mistake.
• The final turning point and finale are where the two movies definitively divulge and this being the freshest memory the viewer goes away with, this really hammers home the distinctions.

The 1999 version takes a lot of time showing Tom’s miserable life and the way he stumbles into the gig that has him meeting Phillipe and Marge. We even get a glimpse of Ripley’s flexible relationship with the truth as he orchestrates this ‘coincidental’ encounter.

Purple Noon chooses to subtlety reveal Tom’s reason for being there and only touches on his poverty through dialogue. When we first meet Tom, it seems to me, that him and Phillip are good friends. As Phillipe’s father’s plan is disclosed, I was still under the impression that the two ‘pals’ had gone to school together. I cannot recall the exact moment I figured out the wealth inequality between them as a matter of fact.

The inciting incident for this adaptation was a stark and cruel event. The trio are out on a yachting trip when Phillipe begins to manifest his boredom and disdain for Tom. He strands Ripley on the dinghy being towed behind the yacht and forgets about him. When he finally remembers and pulls him back into the yacht, Tom is severely sunburned and unconscious. Unbeknownst to Phillipe, his fate has been sealed.

The 1999 film draws the rift between Tom and Phillipe out into a slow and blasé affair, for Phillip at least. Tom however is desperately trying to salvage the relationship. This film leans heavily into the homosexual undertones of Ripley’s adoration and even hints that this might have been an extra reason for Phillipe’s rejection. Either way, this was not so much an ‘inciting incident’ as it was a well-crafted sequence taking us from Tom and Phillipe being as thick as thieves, to Phillipe casually discarding this plaything he is no longer interested in.

The incident itself, being Phillipe’s outright scorn, takes place only moments before the bloodshed. Until then, Phillipe is merely indifferent and just trying to get away from Ripley’s suffocating devotion. This irritation turns to outright contempt one day when the two are out in a rowboat (alone with no witnesses).

Phillipe’s frustration regarding this clingy infatuation erupts into anger and insults are exchanged. In the heat of the moment Ripley smashes Phillipe on the head with a wooden oar. After a second of shock, Tom is instantly regretful, but on seeing the blood pouring from his wound, Phillipe flies into a rage and attacks Tom. Tom begs him to stop, but Phillipe is going proper berserk! In the melee, Tom gets the upper hand and proceeds to literally bash the head in of the man he had previously worshipped.

That killing is a sharp alternative to the one in Purple Moon. In that film, which seems to move at a quicker pace, Tom’s homicidal attack is cold blooded murder. After the dinghy incident Phillipe asks if Tom was having thoughts of revenge. This evolves into a macabre conversation where Tom explains how he would go about impersonating Phillipe after killing him. This appears to be the last straw for Phillipe, and he now wants to be rid of his peasant friend.

Sensing the morbid plot may not be hypothetical, Phillipe asks Tom for more information and Tom is happy, or maybe proud, to oblige. Phillipe offers a large sum of money for Tom to get lost, but it is all too little too late and Tom unflinchingly stabs him. This was not a mix of fear and rage in the confusion of a vicious fight. This was a calculated assassination. Same game changing narrative moment shedding very different light on Ripley due to the circumstances.

Purple Noon leans right into the cold calculating psychopathy, while the later version leaves a shadow of doubt as to how far Ripley’s criminality sinks. In the first he is a Machiavellian scammer who may or may not have been planning to murder Phillipe but was given the necessary incentive after the callous dinghy incident. Phillipe was always a potential mark, but after that event he was a marked man.

The 1999 version adds an extra layer to the sense of betrayal Tom feels when Phillipe withdraws his attention: the fury of the spurned lover! Tom not only craves Phillipe’s wealth and lifestyle; he desires the man too. Rather than a premeditated slaying based on envy and indignant vengeance, we end up with a crime of passion that results in a violent assault; followed by a furious counterattack accompanied by threats of murder. When the smoke cleared it could have been either man left standing.

Moving into the next act the audience has two very dissimilar impressions of the same character, as far as his homicidal tendencies are concerned at least. This act is all about the ‘talents’ of Mr Ripley as he covers his tracks and sets about becoming Phillipe.

Both films highlight Tom’s skill at forging signatures and telling lies. The second throws in an extraordinary gift of impersonating voices with uncanny accuracy. It also includes an extra character that creates a whole new influx of complications for Ripley to navigate: Meredith Logue. She met Tom when he first arrived and met him as Tom Ripley. She also runs in the same circles as Phillipe and Marge; providing an elaborate and complex juggling act for Tom/wannabe Phillipe – exquisite tension ensues.

It’s not as if he had it easy without this added peril. In Purple noon Tom now must evade anyone who knows the real Phillipe, while he goes about slipping into his identity. He needs to bullshit Marge and the police about Phillipe’s whereabouts and intentions all while switching between personas to fit which con he is in at each moment.

While keeping these balls aloft he is confronted by Phillipe’s party-boy pal Freddie. Freddie makes no attempt to disguise his distrust and contempt for Tom as he listens to his lies. He asks a few too many questions and reveals cracks in Tom’s deception, and we end up with another corpse.

Both films play this as a deliberate crime of desperation. Tom is cornered and eliminates the threat. Much less room for interpretation here. With this act Tom reveals his cold and calculating relationship with the taking of human life. The disposal of the body is much like a Mafioso after a hit.

The Talented Mr. Ripley sends us off on a whole other set of trials and tribulations. Not least of which is the character of Meredith who is a most dangerous cat among the pigeons! Tom now has an extra ball in the air; let’s make it two based on the dual personas and the imperative to keep from meeting the wrong people at the wrong time; or maybe not meeting the wrong people at the same time…It’s fucking complicated!

“But wait, there’s more!”. Marge has a friend named Peter who falls in love with Tom. Peter met Tom as Tom, not Phillip, and Peter is from the same circle as Marge and all the other rich vagabonds. Therefore, he knows Meredith, who knows Tom as Phillipe. Red flag!!! Imprudently the lonely and isolated Tom cannot resist the affections of Peter and dives into the longed-for warmth and tenderness wholehearted. Thus, adding another ball or two to the juggle. I’ve lost count!

As Phillipe’s father arrives to settle his son’s affairs the two films match up again. Although the 1990 version gives us the added information that Phillipe had a hostile temper and a history of violence. Marge is also adamant that Tom killed Phillipe but cannot prove nor convince anyone of it in the latter film. I assume all the extra characters and scenarios were in the original novel.

Either way Tom is home free and that would be a dark but fitting conclusion. However, both films have one last card to play, and one hits much harder, and truer, than the other.

Purple Noon sees Phillipe’s body being discovered at the last moment and Tom brought to justice. It kind of feels like a tacked on “crime doesn’t pay” cliché and just didn’t sit right.

The Talented Mr. Ripley on the other hand has a much more devastating punishment for Tom. He is on board a cruise to Greece with his beloved Peter and all looks wonderful until he meets Meredith on deck by chance one night. Peter is in the cabin, so Tom still has room to manoeuvre.

He asks if Meredith is alone and we the audience shudder. She tells him she has too many companions and will never know how close she came to a watery grave. This puts Tom in an excruciating painful predicament. Peter and Meredith can never meet, and Meredith would certainly be missed very quickly.

The film concludes after Ripley has done the only thing that could keep him safe. Killing the man he loves; the man who adored him. He gets away with his crimes and a shitload of money…but at what cost?