– The talented but unexplored Mr. Ripley
Evil or somehow sympathetic? Elisabeth Bronfen gives a lecture at the Rex cinema about “the various talents of Mr. Ripley”.
Published: November 7th, 2023, 11:00 p.m
In the film “Plein soleil” Alain Delon played the murderous Mr. Ripley and became a star with this role.
Photo: Archive
When Patricia Highsmith was asked how she was able to complete her novel “The Talented Mr. Ripley” in just six months, she replied that the novel practically wrote itself. This also had to do with the sympathy she felt towards the murdering hero: “I show the unambiguous triumph of evil over good, and I rejoice in it.”
The novel has been made into a film twice (once with Alain Delon, the other time with Matt Damon in the lead role), in which the petty criminal Tom Ripley is hired by an industrialist to travel to Italy to persuade his son, who has succumbed to artistry, to return to come back to the USA. But Mr. Ripley is so impressed by the European way of life that he kills his son and takes on his identity. The cultural scientist Elisabeth Bronfen now analyzes – as a kind of prelude to Delon’s version of the material – how differently Highsmith’s story can be interpreted: from crime as a promise of freedom to the – failed – breakout from heteronormative attributions. (ane)
Cinema Rex Bern, Wednesday, November 8th, 6 p.m. (lecture); 8 p.m. (film “Plein soleil”)
Ane Hebeisen is a music editor and has been writing about pop and related music from all over the world since 1996.More information
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2023-11-07 22:33:54
#Daily #tip #Lecture #film #talented #unexplored #Ripley
