Ripley's Game

[Chris Knipp]

I wish that I could see the new Patricia Highsmith movie, Ripley’s Game, starring John Malkovich as Tom Ripley, in a nice big theater. I’m such a Highsmith junky. I've read all her books. I've been further inside Tom Ripley's head than I'd like to say. I could have caught it if I’d stayed in London a week or two longer last summer. Now it seems it won’t be showing in this country at all, so Anthony Lane says in The New Yorker, who knows why. The latest news is that it's going direct to video. I'm sure it -- and we, damn it! -- deserve better. What a ripoff. And all I can get now is a one of those cheesy generic trailors with that irritating generic advert voice.

Alain Delon, Matt Damon – interesting versions of Ripley, but hardly resembling the Tom of the novels. Malkovich certainly has a chance of being the one. Or worth seeing anyway. He exudes intelligence and meanness, as neither the gorgeous Alain nor the needy Matt really did. This would be a performance where the creepiness might finally come through.

The director Liliana Cavani has an odd and quite interesting history.

It is most disappointing to have to get the DVD without ever having seen the movie on the big screen.

[oscar jubis]

Audiences in Europe did not seem very interested. Reviews were mixed, at least the ones written in English. In the US, it premiered last September on the Independent Film Channel (IFC). DVD release scheduled for 3/30/04.

[Chris Knipp]

I see. Yes. Peter Bradshaw did call it "rickety nonsense." But Philip French called Malkovich "the best Ripley" and spoke of his "terrifying cool" -- and The New Yorker's Anthony Lane proclaims it the best Ripley and the best Caviani in one. He did see it in an American theater, the Walter Reade at Lincoln Center. I think we're ignoring the Highsmith Factor. It's astonishing that any filming of the great master of weird wickedness, starring this country's most notable character actor in decades, should go unseen here. Damn the European audiences!

But Highsmith abandoned this country, and so has Malcovich.

The reason, I suggest, isn't critical or even financial. There were "strong reviews" (Lane), but since Caviani walked away from the filming and Malcovich lives in France, there was nobody to see that it got proper treatment over here. And that's a pity.

[tabuno]

Finally saw Ripley's Game on IFC after having passed up several opportunities earlier. I don't think this version would be very popular with the American public, it does come across more as an independent movie vehicle and doesn't really have the flash and action and fast pace as earlier Ripley movies.

This movie has a more gritty Ripley elegantly demonstrated in the first scene and seems more cerebral, less high tech and flashy. Malkovich, an older version, I'm assuming seems to have more depth here and an edgy and complicated personality.

[Chris Knipp]

I talked to a friend tonight who just saw it on cable. But I don't have cable. I don't like TV and don't spend much time watching it. I know I miss things, but I do get to see a lot of movies in theaters, and I will rent or buy the DVD of Ripley's Game; but wish I'd been at the Walter Reade Theater in Lincoln Center! I used to think people who sniffed at small screens and VCR's were snooty, but I've become a big screen junkie.

I have read many descriptions of Malkovich's "mature" Tom Ripley, most notably the pretty great one by Anthony Lane in The New Yorker (Feb. 16 & 23 issue). Lane gets to the essence of both Malcovich and Ripley and I love the way he makes the unavailability of the film somehow Ripley-like:


Ever the outsider, not to mention the elitist, he would probably relish the fact that his latest appearance on film, like the white truffle, has proved so damnably elusive; it pays appropriate homage to his sense of rarity. . .

Despite some reports of faulty acting in minor parts (like everybody but Malkovich) and uneven production values, Lane is not the only one who makes this "cerebral" "edgy" "complicated" Ripley sound delicious and not to be missed. I said "damn the European audiences!" Well, damn the "American public" too!

[tabuno]

At the beginning, cable/satellite movies appear to provide a new variety and range of movies, but after a while there comes a point when it all it seems to become a blurry same old, same old. Nothing new, but reruns.

[JustaFied]

Interesting film. I haven't read the books, still, Malkovich seems more believable in the part than Matt Damon. He's got the sinister look that seems perfect - only complaint is that at times he's possibly a bit too smug.

Wasn't Matt Damon's character in The Talented Mr. Ripley homosexual? I could be confusing this with another film. Malkovich's character certainly is not - he's got a beautiful, talented, musician girlfriend who's so young she could pass for his daughter.

Malkovich's character is much more confident than Damon's. Maybe that's just part of the evolution of the Ripley character. He's now always in control and almost completely self-assured. "Don't spend a minute of time worrying about anything you can't control" - he's cool as can be under pressure. And he'll kill without blinking an eye.

[Chris Knipp]

You're right about Matt Damon's character; but this aspect of Ripley is only hinted at in the book; the movie pushes it a bit too far. Moreover, Ripley in Highsmith never has any self-doubts; he only has (especially in the earlier episodes) an occasional fear that he might get caught. I like the René Clément version of the story better (Purple Noon, Plein Soleil, 1960), with the too-handsome and emotionless Alain Delon as Tom. But I'm still eager to see Malkovitch.

There is an earlier version of Ripley's Game (the book title), which is An American Friend, 1977, Wim Wenders, with Dennis Hopper a jumpy, uneasy Tom Ripley.

Highsmith's first novel was done by Hitchcock: Strangers on a Train. The amoral Bruno (Robert Walker) is very like Tom Ripley. That Patricia Highsmith's novels have provided material for films for the past fifty years shows their enduring. . .charm, shall we say?

[cinemabon]

That's because Matt Damon IS gay, hence his attraction to Ben Affleck (sorry, I couldn't resist... )

[Howard Schumann]

Originally posted by Chris Knipp
You're right about Matt Damon's character; but this aspect of Ripley is only hinted at in the book; the movie pushes it a bit too far. Moreover, Ripley in Highsmith never has any self-doubts; he only has (especially in the earlier episodes) an occasional fear that he might get caught. I like the René Clément version of the story better (Purple Noon, Plein Soleil, 1960), with the too-handsome and emotionless Alain Delon as Tom. But I'm still eager to see Malkovitch.

There is an earlier version of Ripley's Game (the book title), which is An American Friend, 1977, Wim Wenders, with Dennis Hopper a jumpy, uneasy Tom Ripley.

Highsmith's first novel was done by Hitchcock: Strangers on a Train. The amoral Bruno (Robert Walker) is very like Tom Ripley. That Patricia Highsmith's novels have provided material for films for the past fifty years shows their enduring. . .charm, shall we say? Hi Chris: I saw this film yesterday and was underwhelmed by it. I thought it lacked the subtlety and inspiration of American Friend which was essentially a probing character study. This is Malkovich's vehicle all the way and if you like his smug sinister persona, you will enjoy it. I did think the supporting characters were not as accomplished as Bruno Ganz et al in Wenders film. It was entertaining but there seemed to be little at stake.

[Chris Knipp]

Unhappily I haven't yet been able to get a copy of Ripley's Game by Liliana Cavani so can't comment. Being a huge Patricia Highsmith fan, I very much want to see it, but I must reserve judgment till I have. An American Friend as I remember it is certainly an interesting, complex, literary film, but a bit too meandering to give the Highsmith shiver and thrill, Dennis Hopper too ditsy, not strong enough, not really a Ripley type.

It's good to hear from you

[Howard Schumann]

Originally posted by Chris Knipp
Unhappily I haven't yet been able to get a copy of Ripley's Game by Liliana Cavani so can't comment. Being a huge Patricia Highsmith fan, I very much want to see it, but I must reserve judgment till I have. An American Friend as I remember it is certainly an interesting, complex, literary film, but a bit too meandering to give the Highsmith shiver and thrill, Dennis Hopper too ditsy, not strong enough, not really a Ripley type.

It's good to hear from you I'd have to respectfully disagree. I didn't find Wenders film meandering at all and actually thought it was tighter and more suspenseful than Ripley's Game. The difference is that the actors were not caricatures and I could identify them as real people, including Dennis Hopper whom I thought was perfect for the role.

[Chris Knipp]

Well, my memory of the film is not at all fresh and I'd have to re-watch it to evaluate your claim. I suspect that Hopper lacks Ripley's amoral cool, and that's what I see as Anthony Lane's assertion in the passage below:
Fans of Wim Wenders’s “American Friend”—an adaptation of the same Highsmith novel, and another central exhibit in seventies cinema—will remember the train sequence as a desperate and panting affair, with Dennis Hopper’s Ripley in full manic spate. This new version is no less fraught, but look how delicately Malkovich, unlike Hopper, inks the moment with black humor. Ripley pauses between slayings and says to Jonathan, “Keep my watch, ’cause if it breaks, I’ll kill everyone on this train.” To hear Malkovich pronounce the words “The noose, please . . . thank you!” as if he were not the onboard murderer but the conductor asking for tickets, is to be reminded, once again, that the creepiest player of our times has a voice as light and high as Fred Astaire’s.(Lane's witty rundown on cinematic Ripleys can be found on Rotten Tomatoes http://www.rottentomatoes.com/author-4597/ My own favorite filmed Highsmiths so far are Strangers on a Train and Purple Noon.

Highsmith has been filmed even more than I thought. A NY Times piece lists http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/filmography.html?p_id=217495 ten Highsmith film adaptations since 1977, which of course omits my two favorites. The latest is White on White directed by Spottiswoode. . . not yet released here? Oscar will tell us. . .

[Howard Schumann]

Originally posted by Chris Knipp
Well, my memory of the film is not at all fresh and I'd have to re-watch it to evaluate your claim. I suspect that Hopper lacks Ripley's amoral cool, and that's what I see as Anthony Lane's assertion in the passage below: (Lane's witty rundown on cinematic Ripleys can be found on Rotten Tomatoes http://www.rottentomatoes.com/author-4597/ My own favorite filmed Highsmiths so far are Strangers on a Train and Purple Noon.

Highsmith has been filmed even more than I thought. A NY Times piece lists http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/filmography.html?p_id=217495 ten Highsmith film adaptations since 1977, which of course omits my two favorites. The latest is White on White directed by Spottiswoode. . . not yet released here? Oscar will tell us. . . Malkovich is great but for artistic reasons I just prefer Hopper and the Wenders version. Just personal preference.

[Chris Knipp]

You need to expand on this. What are the "artistic reasons"?

[Howard Schumann]

Originally posted by Chris Knipp
You need to expand on this. What are the "artistic reasons"?
RIPLEY'S GAME

Directed by Liliana Cavani (2002)

In Ripley's Game, the latest screen adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's series of novels, John Malkovich plays Tom Ripley, the bisexual art connoisseur whose game is manipulation of people for his own ends. The film directed by 70-year old Liliana Cavani, is entertaining but lacks the probing subtlety of Wim Wenders The American Friend, a 1979 Ripley adaptation. Ripley is an unscrupulous art dealer and also a cold-blooded killer. He is cerebral, wealthy, charming, talented, and entirely without principle with something clever to say about everything, even murder. "The most interesting thing", he says, "about doing something terrible is often, in a few days, you can't even remember it." Ripley justifies his acts by saying that they rid the world of useless predators. Malkovich's performance keeps the film afloat, though his smug, sinister persona often borders on camp and Dougray Scott is unconvincing as picture framer Jonathan Trevanny.

Ripley's Game takes place about twenty years after Anthony Minghella's The Talented Mr. Ripley leaves off. Ripley (Malkovich) has married into wealth and now resides in a luxurious Italian villa with his wife Luisa (Chiara Caselli), a professional harpsichord player. When an old crony, Reeves (Ray Winstone) asks him for help in dealing with Berlin mobsters threatening his business, Ripley thinks of a local art restorer and picture framer, Jonathan Trevanny (Scott) who is known to be dying of leukemia. Trevanny is a good candidate in Ripley's mind because he recently insulted him at a party by blurting out "That's the trouble with Ripley—too much money and no taste." Ripley's interest, however, is mostly in the pleasure involved of seeing a mild family man turned into a cold-blooded assassin, no matter how implausible the scenario might be. Trevanny falls for the bait and collects $100,000 to kill a Russian at the zoo.

As one hit deserves another, a second more dangerous plot is hatched to take place on a crowded train but Ripley has to come to Trevanny's rescue when too many bad guys show up. Afterwards, events begin spiraling out of control forcing the picture framer to hide the truth from his wife Sarah (Lena Headley). Though Malkovich fits into the role perfectly, Scott's performance provides little insight into what led a decent family man to become a paid killer. The ending, which could have been suspenseful, is simply unpleasant as the body count escalates. Though beautifully photographed and filled with dark humor, there is little at stake in Ripley's Game and the entire project feels unimportant as reflected in the studio's decision to bypass a theatrical release and send it straight to DVD.

GRADE: B-

[oscar jubis]

Originally posted by Chris Knipp
ten Highsmith film adaptations since 1977, which of course omits my two favorites. The latest is White on White directed by Spottiswoode. . . not yet released here? Oscar will tell us. . .

There have been a total of 15 adaptations of Highsmith's novels, not including television productions. White on White is listed as being on post-production and scheduled for release this year. The names of the director, writer (W. Blake Herron) and cast (Barry Pepper, Jacinta Barrett, Tom Wilkinson) are not likely to generate interest at the box office, in my opinion. I am not convinced the film will get a wide release, as was the case with Ripley's Game. The only comment regarding the film I was able to find is from an IMDb user who saw a screening of the film, then tentatively titled "Ripley's Art" (I learned that other titles once considered were "Bedlam" and "Ripley Under Ground"). The user found the film enjoyable, and funnier than one would expect from the source.

[Chris Knipp]

I knew you'd know.

Ripley Under Ground is the Highsmith novel's title.

What, pray tell, are the three other Highsmith adaptations not already mentioned or linked to here, if you know?

There is also a docu-drama, which blends footage of Ms. Highsmith with staging of scenes with Ripley in his game and voiceovers from the book. The fiction is that Ripley and his creator both check into the same Swiss hotel, but don't notice each other. I must find the details. Or you will tell us.

[oscar jubis]

Originally posted by Chris Knipp
What are the three other Highsmith adaptations not already mentioned or linked to here?

1. Le Meurtrier, released also as Enough Rope in 1963.
2. Once You Kiss A Stranger, a loose remake of Strangers on a Train, made in the UK in '69. Mediocre.
3. Found in the Street, a film scheduled for release this year, but little info is available. Malkovich production.

[Chris Knipp]

Actually IMDb lists about 24, with six TV items, but.... see "Patricia Highsmith" on IMDb.

[Chris Knipp]

Liliana Cavani: Ripley’s Game

The worst man wins

There have been many cinematic Highsmith stories, and even many filmed Tom Ripley’s. Why another one? Well, as I am hardly the first to say – Ripley’s Game came out in England last summer, and had a brief theatrical showing in New York several months ago – there are ways in which John Malkovich was both born and bred to play the mature Mr. Ripley. Give the young one to Alain Delon or Matt Dillon: both were arguable versions of the fledgling scoundrel. But it’s uncanny how well Malkovich wears the skin of the grown man. And it’s cruelly weird that in America a film of this caliber could have been sent straight to DVD.

Life requires action, sometimes the slow patience of the lizard, other times the gift of abrupt violence. Ripley’s accomplished murders and thefts, so bold, so risky, so improvisational, prove that he possesses the existential courage one needs to survive and enjoy life. As his reward for jobs well done, Tom occupies an expansive Palladian villa in Treviso with a beautiful harpsichordist. He enjoys the best wines, the best cars, and the best risotto made from truffles in his kitchen by the best cook in the Veneto. He knows the difference between a Guercino and a Parmigianino and he’s never anything but well dressed. Markovich serves the role as well as it serves him: isn’t he, like Ripley, a brash American turned well-heeled European sybarite?

The paradox of the Ripley novels is that a master criminal may also be good at the art of living, and the tricky thing about watching Malkovich is that one may be tempted to admire him. This isn’t a new experience for the reader of Highsmith’s many novels, particularly the Ripley ones: to enter the world of her criminals has the appeal of being bad and getting away with it. As Graham Greene famously said, “[Highsmith] has created a world of her own – a world claustrophobic and irrational which we enter each time with a sense of personal danger.” And yet within the first ten minutes we see Ripley kill a man with a poker for little more than mishandling some renaissance drawings.

The perfect foil for Ripley in the movie is Trevanny (Dugray Scott), a man whom fatal illness has given an edge of desperate bravado, but who remains sensitive to moral values. Eventually after being lured into committing a serious crime for big money (which he can leave to his wife and young son), Trevanny waits with Ripley in the villa for some gangsters bent on revenge and as they chat to pass the time he remarks that in school he always got caught.

Tom smiles and says, “You know why? Because you didn’t think of just[/] killing[/i] your teachers!”

John Malkovich hasn’t very often played a nice person. Yes, he’s been Biff in Death of a Salesman and Tom in The Glass Menagerie, but then we get to Lennie in Of Mice and Men and (triumphantly) Valmont in Dangerous Acquaintances andGilbert Osmond in Portrait of a Lady. In between he has been an out and out villain as in In the Line of Fire, or supercilious prigs like Port in The Sheltering Sky and Jake in The Object of Beauty. Tom Ripley is Malkovich’s triumph. It combines all of these. Is it a surprise that playing the wickedest man of all, he has never been more appealing? Finally all his slimy traits here come together. This is what he’s about, we say. At last it all makes sense. Being Ripley has never been more fun and that’s because the role fits the actor like a glove. There’s something sublimely ugly about him that reminds us that good looks are not the only attractive features in a man. There is also power, taste, and originality. He’s elegant, he’s an esthete, and he’s smart. When Reeves asks him if he has the extra fifty thousand he’s offering, he just snaps his cell phone shut. The ruthless man is also impatient with stupidity.

This is an actor’s film. Ray Winstone is superb in the smaller role of the abominable, self satisfied lowlife Reeves who comes to Ripley to get a murder done. Reeves is little more than a pretext for a caper, a reason for coming out of retirement, but Winstone makes him forward without ever being overdrawn. Dugray Scott is Trevanny, the picture framer in the Italian town near which Ripley lives who has acute myelogenous leukemia. Scott is an actor who looks both handsome and unwell. He may suffer a little too much, but he also has an admirable recessiveness that keeps the glamour Cavani spreads over her characters (they’re all a bit too well dressed, but this film comes out of Italy, the land of bella figura) from overwhelming his essential weakness. He also illustrates the strength that comes to desperate men. He gets just as mean as Ripley toward the end, and he dies with a smile on his face.

This film shows us the two essential elements of Patricia Highmith’s books: Tom Ripley is pure evil; and it’s a lot of fun to be him. Cavani’s suave Game gives the Devil his due. People unfamiliar with the Highsmithian sensibility may find the end unsatisfying. But it is perfectly in character.

http://www.chrisknipp.com/writing/viewtopic.php?t=290