|
COPYRIGHT 2004 All rights reserved. Reproduced by permission of The Condé Nast Publications Inc.
Is there any place, in the world of Patricia Highsmith, for the non-weird? Not only do crooked souls seem more at ease there than the straight; after a while, the air grows so corrupting that the straight start behaving like the crooked. Highsmith's first novel, "Strangers on a Train," was given the full treatment by Alfred Hitchcock in 1951, and nobody who has seen it can forget the frictionless perversion of Robert Walker in the role of Bruno--the charming fellow-passenger who suggests murder as if he were offering a light. But Farley Granger, too, as the tennis star to whom the offer is made, becomes no less disquieting. He begins as a handsome patsy, but somehow Bruno's guile sucks him in. For Highsmith, life is all backhand and sly drop shot, with a vicious spin on the ball, and the actors who have been drawn to her are not exactly the kind in whom you place your trust; think of Alain Delon in "Plein Soleil," or Dennis Hopper in "The American Friend." As for Jude Law in "The Talented Mr. Ripley," he may have been a victim, but, with that ice-white smile and body of bronze, he was a victim who looked like a killer.
It's a hell of a team, but wait: the captain has arrived. "Ripley's Game," directed by Liliana Cavani, sees the welcome return of Tom Ripley. On his previous visit to our screen, he was played by Matt Damon, but that milky substitute can now be put behind us. Ladies...
Read the full article for free courtesy of your local library.
|
Bookmark this article
Print this article
Link to this article
Email this article
Digg It!
Add to del.icio.us
RSS
