''Purple Noon'' (french: Plein soleil; it, Delitto in pieno sole; also known as ''Full Sun'', ''Blazing Sun'', ''Lust for Evil'', and ''Talented Mr. Ripley'') is a 1960

crime thriller film Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

directed by René Clément, loosely based on the 1955 novel '' The Talented Mr. Ripley'' by

Patricia Highsmith Patricia Highsmith (January 19, 1921 – February 4, 1995) was an American novelist and short story writer widely known for her psychological thrillers, including her series of five novels featuring the character Tom Ripley. She wrote 22 novel ...

. The French/

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

international co-production A co-production is a joint venture between two or more different production companies for the purpose of film production, television production, video game development, and so on. In the case of an international co-production, production companie ...

stars Alain Delon in his first major film, along with

Maurice Ronet Maurice Ronet (13 April 1927 – 14 March 1983) was a French film actor, director, and writer. Early life Maurice Ronet was born Maurice Julien Marie Robinet in Nice, Alpes Maritimes. He was the only child of professional stage actors Émile Rob ...

(as Philippe Greenleaf) and

Marie Laforêt Marie Laforêt (born Maïtena Marie Brigitte Doumenach; 5 October 1939 – 2 November 2019) was a French singer and actress, particularly well known for her work during the 1960s and 1970s. In 1978, she moved to Geneva, and acquired Swiss citize ...

(as Marge); Billy Kearns (an expatriate American actor well-liked in France) plays Greenleaf's friend Freddy Miles, and

Romy Schneider Romy Schneider (; born Rosemarie Magdalena Albach; 23 September 1938 – 29 May 1982) was a German-French actress. She began her career in the German genre in the early 1950s when she was 15. From 1955 to 1957, she played the central chara ...

appears briefly in an uncredited role as Freddie Miles' companion. The film, principally in French, contains brief sequences in Italian and English. Screenwriter Paul Gégauff wrote a variation on the same story in 1968 when he worked on ''

Les biches ''Les biches'' () ("The Hinds" or "The Does", or "The Darlings") is a one-act ballet to music by Francis Poulenc, choreographed by Bronislava Nijinska and premiered by the Ballets Russes on 6 January 1924 at the Salle Garnier in Monte Carlo. Ni ...

'' for Claude Chabrol. Highsmith's source novel was adapted again in 1999 under the original title, '' The Talented Mr. Ripley''.

Plot

The American

Tom Ripley Thomas Ripley is a fictional character in a series of crime novels by American novelist Patricia Highsmith, as well as several film adaptations. He is a career criminal, con artist, and serial killer who always gets away with his crimes. The f ...

(Alain Delon) has been sent to Italy to persuade the wealthy Philippe Greenleaf (

) to return to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

and take over his father's business. Philippe intends to do no such thing and the impoverished Tom enjoys living a life of luxury, so the two men essentially spend money all day and carouse all night. Tom is fixated on Philippe and his girlfriend, Marge (

), and covets the other man's life. Philippe eventually grows bored with Ripley's fawning and becomes cruel and abusive to him. The final straw is when, during a

yachting Yachting is the use of recreational boats and ships called ''yachts'' for racing or cruising. Yachts are distinguished from working ships mainly by their leisure purpose. "Yacht" derives from the Dutch word '' jacht'' ("hunt"). With sailboats, ...

trip, Philippe strands Tom in the

dinghy A dinghy is a type of small boat, often carried or towed by a larger vessel for use as a tender. Utility dinghies are usually rowboats or have an outboard motor. Some are rigged for sailing but they differ from sailing dinghies, which ...

and leaves him to lie in the sun for hours. Back on board, Tom hatches a plan to kill Philippe and steal his identity. First, he leaves evidence of Philippe's philandering for an outraged Marge to find. After Marge goes ashore, Philippe confronts Tom, who admits his plan quite casually. Philippe, believing it to be a joke, plays along and asks Tom for the plan's details. Suddenly frightened, Philippe offers Tom a substantial sum to leave him and Marge alone, but Tom states that he can obtain this sum anyway and far more. At last, pretending to accept his offer, Tom stabs Philippe as the latter screams Marge's name. He casts the body overboard and returns to port. Upon returning to shore, Tom informs Marge that Philippe has decided to stay behind. He then goes travelling around Italy using Philippe's name and bank account, flawlessly mimicking his voice and mannerisms; in effect, Tom has ''become'' Philippe, even affixing his own photo, with seal, in Philippe's passport. He rents a large suite in a Rome hotel. When Philippe's friend, Freddie Miles (Billy Kearns), comes to the hotel to see Philippe and begins to suspect the truth, Tom murders him as well. Freddie's body is soon found and the Italian police become involved. Tom continues his charade, switching between his identity and Philippe's, depending on what the situation demands. After carrying out an elaborate scheme to implicate Philippe in Freddie's murder, Tom forges a

suicide note A suicide note or death note is a message left behind by a person who dies or intends to die by suicide. A study examining Japanese suicide notes estimated that 25–30% of suicides are accompanied by a note. However, incidence rates may depen ...

and a will, leaving the Greenleaf fortune to Marge. Tom survives a long string of close shaves, throwing the Italian police off his trail and seemingly having outwitted everyone. He even succeeds in seducing Marge, with whom he begins openly cohabiting. When Philippe's yacht is being pulled out of the water for inspection by a buyer, his canvas-wrapped body is found attached to the boat because the anchor cable it was wrapped in had become tangled around the propeller. The film ends with Tom being unknowingly called toward the police.

Cast

* Alain Delon as

as Philippe Greenleaf *

as Marge Duval *

Erno Crisa Erno Crisa (10 March 1914 – 4 April 1968) was an Italian film actor. He appeared in more than 50 films between 1944 and 1968. His last film was the spaghetti western ''Sugar Colt''. Partial filmography * ''Croisières sidérales'' (1942) ...

as Inspector Riccordi * Billy Kearns as Freddy Miles * Frank Latimore as O'Brien * Elvire Popesco as Madame Popova * Nicolas Petrov as Boris the dancer *

Ave Ninchi Ave Maria Ninchi (14 December 1914 – 10 November 1997) was an Italian supporting actress who played character roles on stage, television, and in over 98 feature films that included ''Tomorrow Is Too Late'' (1949) and Louis Malle's ''Murmur ...

as Signora Gianna, landlady in Rome * Lily Romanelli as Greenleaf's Housekeeper in Mongibello *

Nerio Bernardi Nerio Bernardi (23 July 1899 – 12 January 1971) was an Italian film actor. He appeared in nearly 200 films between 1918 and 1970. He was born in Bologna, Italy and died in Rome, Italy. Selected filmography * ''Nero'' (1922) * '' The Shep ...

as the Ship's Agency Director * as The Belgian Lady * Paul Muller as The Blind Man (uncredited) * René Clément as a servant (uncredited cameo appearance) *

as Freddy's companion (uncredited cameo appearance; Schneider was Delon's girlfriend at that time)

Production

Delon was cast after the director saw him in '' Women Are Weak'' (1959)."New Dream for Alain Delon", Thomas, Kevin. ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'', 18 December 1965, p. a12.

Reception

''Purple Noon'' was lauded by critics, and made Delon a star. In 1962, Clément and Paul Gégauff won an Edgar Award from the

Mystery Writers of America Mystery Writers of America (MWA) is an organization of mystery and crime writers, based in New York City. The organization was founded in 1945 by Clayton Rawson, Anthony Boucher, Lawrence Treat, and Brett Halliday. It presents the Edgar Awa ...

for Best Foreign Film Screenplay. It enjoys a loyal cult following even today, with fans including film director

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of many major accolades, inclu ...

. Roger Ebert gave ''Purple Noon'' three stars (compared to the four-star review he gave to the 1999 version), writing that "the best thing about the film is the way the plot devises a way for Ripley to create a perfect cover-up", but criticized the "less than satisfactory ending", feeling that "''Purple Noon'' ends as it does only because Clement doesn't have Highsmith's iron nerve". James Berardinelli rated ''Purple Noon'' higher than ''The Talented Mr. Ripley'', giving it a four-star review (compared to two and a half stars for ''The Talented Mr. Ripley''). Berardinelli praised Delon's acting, saying that "Tom is fascinating because Delon makes him so" and also complimented the film for "expert camerawork and crisp direction." Berardinelli placed ''Purple Noon'' on his All-Time 100 list and compared it to the 1999 film: "The remake went back to the source material, Patricia Highsmith's ''The Talented Mr. Ripley''. The result, while arguably truer to the events of Highsmith's book, is vastly inferior. To say it suffers by comparison to ''Purple Noon'' is an understatement. Almost every aspect of Rene Clement's 1960 motion picture is superior to that of Minghella's 1999 version, from the cinematography to the acting to the screenplay.

Matt Damon Matthew Paige Damon (; born October 8, 1970) is an American actor, film producer, and screenwriter. Ranked among ''Forbes'' most bankable stars, the films in which he has appeared have collectively earned over $3.88 billion at the North Ameri ...

might make a credible Tom Ripley but only for those who never experienced Alain Delon's portrayal." Nandini Ramnath wrote for Scroll.in, "The definitive portrayal of crime novelist Patricia Highsmith's most enduring creation was as early as 1960. Damon and Hopper come close to conveying the ruthlessness and ambition of Tom Ripley, but Delon effortless captures his mystique." Highsmith's opinion of the film was mixed. She felt that Alain Delon was "excellent" in the role of Tom RipleyInterview with Patricia Highsmith
by

Gerald Peary Gerald Peary (born October 30, 1944) is an American film critic, filmmaker, editor of the University Press of Mississippi, and a former curator of the Harvard Film Archive. Early life and education Peary graduated from Rider University in 1964, w ...

and described the film overall as "very beautiful to the eye and interesting for the intellect", but criticized the ending in which it is implied that Ripley is to be caught by the police: " was a terrible concession to so-called public morality that the criminal had to be caught."

Restoration and re-release

In 2012

StudioCanal StudioCanal S.A.S. (formerly known as Le Studio Canal+, Canal Plus, Canal+ Distribution, Canal+ D.A., Canal+ Production, and Canal+ Image and also known as StudioCanal International) is a French film production and distribution company that owns ...

funded a restoration of the movie by the laboratory, a restoration being all the more warranted as part of the film's atmosphere is due to the sun-drenched scenes mentioned in the film's original title. The restored version was to be shown at the

2013 Cannes Film Festival The 66th Cannes Film Festival took place in Cannes, France, from 15 to 26 May 2013. Steven Spielberg was the head of the jury for the main competition. New Zealand film director Jane Campion was the head of the jury for the Cinéfondation and ...

as part of an homage to Delon's career, prior to re-release in France at least. On 4 December 2012,

The Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home video, home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scho ...

released the high-definition digital restoration of ''Purple Noon'' on Blu-ray and DVD. Special features include an interview with René Clément scholar and author Denitza Bantcheva, archival interviews with Alain Delon and Patricia Highsmith, the film's original English-language trailer, a booklet featuring an essay by film critic

Geoffrey O'Brien Geoffrey O'Brien (born 1948 New York City, New York) is an American poet, editor, book and film critic, translator, and cultural historian. In 1992, he joined the staff of the Library of America as executive editor, becoming editor-in-chief in 19 ...

and excerpts from a 1981 interview with Clément.''Purple Noon''

The film has also been released on Blu-ray in the UK and Germany (Studiocanal, 2013), and Japan (Kinokuniya, 2011).

References

External links

* * * *
''Purple Noon: In Broad Sunlight''
an essay by

Article about the yacht ''Marge''
at Sea Independent {{Patricia Highsmith, state=autocollapse 1960 films 1960 crime films 1960 crime drama films 1960s crime thriller films 1960s psychological thriller films 1960s thriller drama films Edgar Award-winning works Films about con artists Films about identity theft Films based on American crime novels Films based on works by Patricia Highsmith Films directed by René Clément Films produced by Robert and Raymond Hakim Films scored by Nino Rota Films set in Rome Films set in the Mediterranean Sea Films shot in Naples Films shot in Rome Films with screenplays by Paul Gégauff French crime drama films French crime thriller films 1960s French-language films French psychological thriller films Italian crime drama films Italian crime thriller films Italian thriller drama films Italian psychological thriller films Seafaring films Titanus films 1960s Italian films 1960s French films