Cheap Purple Noon (DVD) (Alain Delon, Maurice Ronet, Marie Laforêt) (René Clément) Price

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Customer Reviews of Purple Noon

Dark, yet Exciting Film that looks deep into human nature
I have seen this film several times: first-long time ago, then again-on the big screen, and more recently-after "Talented Mr. Ripley" came out. I liked PM every single time I watched it...the more you watch it, the better it gets. This version of the novel is very dark and breath-taking; it is also more of a criminal drama, than TMr.R. The fact that this film is not about americans does not take away the pleasure from the plot and the cinematography. Alain Delon is marvelous in his debut role as "Mr. Ripley" (imagine, getting a role like this one for a big debut... Quite a task! ). He is as devious as you can get... "Purple Noon" is a challenging film, that takes a deep look into human psyche. It is a real masterpeice.

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The Talented Mr. Ripley with a French accent
I saw this before I read the Patricia Highsmith mystery novel from which it was adapted, and before seeing the recent and excellent The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) directed by Anthony Minghella and starring Matt Damon, Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow. Here the accomplished French director René Clément has Alain Delon, Maurice Ronet and Marie Laforêt as his stars in this very fine interpretation. Seeing it again only confirms my high opinion.

The fact that "Purple Noon" plays well after forty years is a testament to Clément's clean, objective direction and his faithful adherence to the Hitchcock formula. Pretty poor boy goes after everything pretty rich boy has, including his yacht and his girl friend in this tightly focused thriller. We see once again--cf., Polanski's Knife in the Water (1962) and the early Nicole Kidman vehicle Dead Calm (1989)--that some very bad things can happen when you get two men and one woman on a yacht in the middle of a whole lot of water. Note too the Mediterranean rock island atmosphere reminiscent of Antonioni's L'Avventura (1960). It will probably get me into trouble with Italian film aficionados to add that it's a little surprising that both films are from the same year, inasmuch as Plein Soleil is still a treat to watch, while L'Avventura seems terribly dated. Perhaps the beautiful use of color and the charming locales and interiors so well done by Clément make the difference.

Delon is a particularly "pretty" and uncomplicated Tom Ripley, while Ronet is a somewhat nasty and macho Philippe ("Dickie" in the novel) Greenleaf, and Laforêt is a very sensual and sexy Marge. All do a good job and are well directed by Clément whose attention to detail in all aspects of the production is admirable. The fish market scene and the scene where Ripley projects Philippe's signature on the wall in order to practice it, and especially the cold, windy feel of being aboard the yacht work very well and keep us engaged.

Comparing the Minghella film, I would say it owes something to Plein Soleil (e.g., the jazz motif, the real love between Marge and Philippe) but is essentially a different spin. Perhaps the most important difference is that there is no sexual ambiguity to Ripley's character in this film as there was in both the novel and Minghella's production. Clément plays it straight throughout also eschewing any sort of psychological study of Ripley's murderous nature. He even deviates from Highsmith's daring (at the time) resolution for something more traditional. Nonetheless the very clever ending is beautifully ironic and will give you a surprising jolt.

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Catch Me If You Can...
....fans of the stories of master improvisionist Tom Ripley will truly love this inspired piece of French cinema filmed in the sixties. It shows no signs of being dated and no signs of those non-sequitur and dreaded foreign film edits that makes the viewer say, "What the heck does this mean?" When I saw it again recently on IFC, I was enthalled by the pacing of Tom's manueverings on the boat and the difficult dispatching of the good life gadabout Freddy from the apartment. The lead actor makes you feel as if the modern day Ripley would have been better served by Banderas, not Damon. Not necessarily to undercut Damon's performance, but this Ripley is more of a dark european which seems to fit better. Also there are snatches of everday goings about and faces in the crowd which give the movie a distinct flair. A warning though: if you can't handle english subtitles, this ain't for you. I found them not to be so much of a hinder, but some movie viewers may not.