CLASS REVIEWS

1. I am flabberghasted by the reviews of this film I have read here today. I'm beginning to wonder if I have a different version of the novel and saw a different version of Plein Soleil than everyone else. Yes, the novel is good, but it could never be made into a film, as Ripley is far less intriguing because he's unscrupulous from the beginning. Plein Soleil is pure tripe, and not half the film that The Talented Mr. Ripley is.

Tom's homosexuality is not veiled in the novel as has been suggested by several people; rather, it is all but plainly stated right on the page, and Tom kills Dickie in the novel because Dickie realizes that Tom's gay and doesn't want anything to do with him anymore. And he does it in cold blood- he thinks about it before he actually kills him. The Tom of the film kills Dickie in a panic because Dickie wants to kill him for messing up his face. And Tom only messes up Dickie's face in a fit of passion because Dickie is making fun of him and telling him that he's a loser and a bore. And for those of you who didn't pick up on all of the blatant gay innuendo, Tom is in love with Dickie, not Marge.

As for Plein Soleil, it is hardly subtle or nuanced, as has been suggested by some. Rather, it is heavy-handed, totally unfaithful to the book in one of its most important themes (Tom must be gay), and totally mucks up the ending by having Tom get caught. You may not have noticed, but there are four Ripley novels, so having him arrested at the end of the first would hardly work out for the other three. And it certainly would be less torture for him, which is really the whole point, obviously. There is a reason why American filmmakers made films noir, and the French only wrote about them.

I think this film is brilliant. Beautiful scenery and acting aside, the screenplay and direction are marvelous and convey a message seldom delivered so stealthily and expertly. It's a shame that so few people actually get what Minghella was aiming at here. Tom Ripley is the quintessential closeted gay young man. He is not an evil homosexual homicidal psychopath, but a man who is unsure of himself and afraid to be his own person, to the extent that he has no personality. The "evil" that overtakes him is the evil and decadence of his new friends- he is so weak that he allows their personalities to dominate his and he takes on a little of theirs. He doesn't set out from the get-go to take over Dickie's life; in fact, the thought doesn't even occur to him until the desk clerk at their San Remo hotel mistakes him for "Signor Greenleaf."

Then he does what most young gay men do when they first realize who and what they are- he pretends to be somebody he's not. This is all the more ironic and brilliant because he IS gay, and he's actually pretending to be a real-life other person. But in order to be safe, he can't ever reveal his true self or allow it to be revealed. He kills Freddie Miles to avoid being outed as Tom Ripley instead of Dickie Greenleaf, and he kills Peter Smith-Kingsley to avoid being outed as a homosexual. He is a truly tragic character, because he is doomed to be alone, and doomed to never get caught- he is trapped in the basement with his demons, and even he doesn't have the key to let himself out. The end of the film is far from disappointing, unless you're one of those people who expects everything to be wrapped up neatly in the end, for the murderer to be arrested and the truth known. I submit that the end of Ripley is far more appropriate than having him caught- he is tortured by his own guilt and the knowledge that his life is a total fabrication built on death and lies. He is destined to live the rest of his life in fear of being caught, and that is a far worse fate than spending life in prison or being hanged.

I thought Matt Damon was impeccably Tom. Jude Law was fabulous as simultaneously charming and despicable. Gwyneth was Gwyneth (one point I seem to agree with a lot of folks on), and Cate was her usual wonderful self. Though I must say that Philip Seymour Hoffman stole the picture- I was rooting for another 7 minutes on screen Dame Judi Dench supporting Oscar win for him, because he was just that good. This film deserves 11 out of 10, but I'll settle for 10.