Mr. Ripley and Company

Tom Ripley (Matt Damon) is a young American who is mistaken by the father of rich kid Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law) for one of Dickie's classmates from Princeton. The father charges Tom to go to Italy to retrieve his wastrel son who's spending his allowance living a life of luxury. Tom, however, goes to Italy and becomes one of Dickie's hangers-on, and doesn't want to go back to his dreary life in the states. He becomes rather obsessive about Dickie (there are some homosexual undertones) and is reluctant to leave when Dickie gets tired of him. He later ends up appropriating Dickie's identity in Rome, perplexing Dickie's fiancee Marge (Gwyneth Paltrow) and almost getting involved (as Dickie) with an American heiress (Cate Blanchett). Murder figures prominently in the intrigue at various points as well.

Tom Ripley is a man without a life or a personality, and he grafts himself onto whatever he can find to define himself. But he's violently obsessive about it, and the film is basically about the lengths to which an amoral anti-hero like this will go to get what he wants. It's often painful to watch as you squirm wondering why Ripley doesn't quit while he's ahead (he doesn't want to, obviously, and there's a moment in the film where you can see Ripley struggling with throwing in the towel or continuing to fall just a little longer on the off-chance that he learns how to fly).

The acting is generally excellent, especially the subtle performance by Damon and the perfect "young American rich kid" performance by Law. Paltrow is fine as Marge, although she looks terribly plain next to the stunning Blanchett (I've long been a little mystified by the popularity of Paltrow anyway). The script is often quite clever, using its premise to set up all sorts of ironic statements by the characters, both blatant and subtle.

I notice that Diane didn't care much for Ripley according to her journal, finding it boring and not at all tense. While I can understand her criticism that Ripley seemed to get out of tight situations a little too conveniently (I commented after the film that it could have been called The Amazingly Fortunate Mr. Ripley), it was for me a pretty tense film, as I'd never read the book and couldn't see exactly how the tension would be ratcheted up as the movie proceeds, and the fact that Ripley doesn't know how to quit while he's ahead means that it's not quite clear how things will resolve themselves. I think Diane's a bit too harsh on the film.

I myself was a little disappointed in the film, though, in that the plot doesn't come to any sort of climax or resolution, which is clearly part of the point of the story, but it left it feeling a bit unfinished. But I can't complain much with what's there, or with the lovely cinematography of Italy.

I've also been spending the week reading more Dorothy Sayers mysteries with Lord Peter Wimsey. Continuing from the early books, I've read Unnatural Death, and The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club. Shorter than her later novels (such as Gaudy Night), the stories zip right along and are considerably more accessible. I didn't like these two as much as Clouds of Witness, but they were fun.

Unnatural Death and Bellona are more subtle pieces than Clouds. The former involves Peter uncovering a mystery where no one else suspected that one had even occurred. It's enjoyable to see Peter peel back the layers to find out what happened and how it happened. The latter is similar in that it's not clear whether a crime was committed, just that the death of an old General at an exclusive club muddies the question of his will and that of his sister, as who receives her large fortune depends on which one of them died first in the course of 24 hours. Peter is asked to investigate and finds various bits of suspicious activity around the events. The ultimate solution is a little muddy, however, and I didn't enjoy it as much as Unnatural Death.

I'm enjoying these books a lot. Besides just enjoying the old-time (1920s) British style in which they're written, I seem to be in the mood for some sensible mysteries this week.

Oh, and tonight I got together with my old friend Charley, who's working at an Internet game company (they do Asheron's Call, I believe; it seems to be only distributed by Microsoft, not owned by them, and of course there isn't a Mac version). We met up in Harvard Square and had Thai food for dinner, and a nice conversation. He's pretty much my only old friend who still lives in the Boston area itself (Bruce commutes in from a bit further away when we meet).