Plein soleil (1960) - film review

A young American, Tom Ripley, is offered a handsome reward from a wealthy businessman to bring his son, Philip Greenleaf, back home.  For several years, Philip has been living the life of a playboy idler in Italy, amusing himself with his girlfriend Marge, at his father’s expense.  Far from persuading Philip to return home, Tom ends up becoming the object of his cruel jokes.  After one such incident, Tom manages to separate Philip and Marge and then cold bloodily kills Philip whilst on board a yacht.  Having disposed of the body, Tom assumes Philip’s identity, forging his signature to acquire money.  All goes well until one of Philip’s friends, Freddy Miles, turns up and uncovers Ripley’s game.  Tom finds he has another body to dispose of …

Despite its sumptuous colour photography and expansive Mediterranean location, Plein soleil has all the characteristics of a classic film noir and is unmistakably director René Clément’s most confident and inspired foray into the thriller genre.  The film is based on a popular novel by Patricia Highsmith (The Talented Mr Ripley), although Clément makes a number of significant changes to the plot (most notably the ending).  The character of Ripley is significantly altered – he is less the ambiguous, somewhat vulnerable creation of Highsmith and more a kind of cunning amoral opportunist.  References to Ripley’s closet homosexuality are also neatly sidestepped, the only hint of this being the chilling scene in which Ripley first steps into Greenleaf’s character (adopting the millionaire’s clothes, voice and mannerisms).  Clément is clearly far less interested in the motivations for Ripley’s actions than in the process by which he executes his various crimes, and as such his Ripley is far more of a mystery, far less sympathetic than that conceived by Highsmith.

This was to be Alain Delon’s first significant film role and the one which pretty well defined his screen persona for the rest of his career.  With panther-like stealth, steely cold eyes, chiselled boyish features and an aura of sleek decadence, Delon was the epitome of the cold-hearted villain or seemingly emotionless hero – a throwback to classic film noir.  Delon is perfect as René Clément’s conception of Tom Ripley, gradually evolving from the apparently innocent plaything of a millionaire playboy into a dangerously manipulative sociopath.  The film also marked the screen début of another great talent, Marie Laforêt.

It is worth comparing this film with Anthony Minghella’s adaptation of the same Patricia Highsmith novel, The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), which starred Matt Damon as Ripley.  Minghella’s version is more faithful to the original novel than Clément’s and makes far greater effort to develop Ripley’s back story (his deprived background, latent homosexuality and various personal disorders).  Plein soleil is primarily a plot-centric suspense thriller in the familiar mould – many have compared Clément’s technique with that of Hitchcock (for example, both directors have a knack of using black comedy to heighten dramatic tension).  By contrast, Minghella’s film is less a thriller and more a traditional character-based drama (marred only by its slightly off-putting Hollywood gloss).  Both films have their merits, although Clément’s film slightly has the edge in terms of style and sophistication.

© James Travers 2005

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