The Talented Ms Highsmith (The Talented Mr Ripley - Patricia Highsmith)

Member Name: vixnell

Product:	The Talented Mr Ripley - Patricia Highsmith
Date:	21/05/02 (132 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Well crafted, Gripping, Intriguing

Disadvantages: A little simplistic

Talented she certainly was. She created a marvellous character and a gripping tale and if I say that I feel the film improved on the plot this should not be seen as a slight but a natural effect of the book’s considerable age.

Taken in context it may be that the naivete of the police, the private detective and the victim’s friends and family are all plausible but to a modern reader like myself the ease with which Tom carried out his subterfuge was simply not credible. To think that he might be interviewed by the same inspector and accompanying officer as Tom and as Dickie, just a few months apart without arousing the slightest suspicion simply because he had darkened his hair and was now wearing make-up is simply implausible. Tom’s picture is taken in Venice and printed in the papers but no-one who knew him as Dickie in Rome recognises him. Their extraordinary “resemblance” to one another is simply never commented on. And the fact that Tom and Dickie never appear on any hotel register in Italy at the same time is does not arouse the slightest suspicion. Finally there is Paper Tom’s strangely lapses of memory – he forgot that Dickie gave him his rings, he forgot the letter containing the will and instructions not to open for several months. These peculiarly pertinent bouts of amnesia are accepted by all and sundry.

In the film Tom is interviewed by a different policeman in Venice. He checks into two hotels simultaneously as Tom and as Dickie and logs calls between the two. In short, he is just that bit more sophisticated, that little bit smarter.

I cannot agree that the sexuality sub-plot muddies the water in the film. The sub-plot is certainly there in the book but Tom is more homophobic in the book, he is less able to act on his desires and attempt happiness. Indeed, Paper Tom seems unaware that he could even have such desires and is either mystified, apologetic or angry when others s
eem to suspect. (Although there is a tantalising hint that he may be more active than he acknowledges even to himself – the young Italian male who is able to tell Freddie where Dickie lives. Is he really a stalker as Tom suggests, or has Tom had more guests to his apartment than he lets on)

I am surprised that in a previous opinion it is stated that Tom takes satisfaction in killing whereas in the book it is a last resort. I have to disagree. Tom kills because it is the only way to get what he wants – that is a very different thing from killing as a last resort. I actually thought the film was kinder on Tom in that regard. He kills Dickie in a rage whereas in the book it is premeditated. Freddie’s murder is almost the same in the film and the book except that it is suggested in the book that Tom kills Freddie because he thinks he suspects Tom and Dickie are lovers. “Freddie Miles, you’re a victim of your own dirty mind.” In the film it is fear of discovery that motivates him.

There is no third murder in the book. Peter is a minor character with whom Tom is not greatly involved (although he is invited to stay with him in Ireland and Tom considers the possibility of making Peter the next Dickie) and the character played by Cate Blanchett in the film does not feature at all. Another reviewer has suggested that the books ending is more believable. Again, I have to disagree. I found the films ending more satisfying in a number of ways.

Firstly in the book it seems that no-one is left with any lingering suspicion of Tom at all. I found Marge’s frustration in the film more interesting, being sure he is guilty but with no idea how exactly and without any proof. I also found Tom’s final dilemma aboard the boat – kill the one he loves and who loves Tom and resume Dickie’s identity, or be caught out. Of course Tom chooses self preservation and escapes again but at a cost. I
n the book Tom has no punishment at all and so remains an aloof character that it is difficult to feel a great deal for.

There are as I say a number of differences between the film and the book and although I tend to favour the films version of events I truly loved the book. I enjoyed every line and it must be remembered that there would be no film at all without the character of Tom Ripley and the superb work by Ms Highsmith. I recommend both wholeheartedly.

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