Ripley's Game

Tom Ripley lives in a villa in Italy, occupies himself with art and music, and nobody asks about his past. At a party his neighbour Jonathan, an English picture framer, insults him within earshot. Ripley does not forget it. Some time later an acquaintance comes looking for someone to commit a murder, and Ripley gives him Jonathan's name, a man in cancer treatment who wants to leave his family money. The subject is not crime but Ripley presenting his revenge as a kindness. He genuinely makes the man money and genuinely stands by him, but the reason is that small insult. The film never resolves the doubleness. The form is cool and elegant. Northern Italian houses, train journeys, classical music. The violence is abrupt and short; the best sequence takes place on a train and proceeds almost in silence. The source is Patricia Highsmith's novel. The same book was filmed by Wim Wenders in 1977 as The American Friend; the two films tell the same events in entirely different registers. John Malkovich plays Ripley, Dougray Scott plays Jonathan and Ray Winstone the man who brings the job. Liliana Cavani directs. It was well received by critics but went straight to video in America with no theatrical release. Who it is for: viewers who like Highsmith adaptations and Malkovich. Who it is not for: anyone expecting a thriller; the film keeps its tempo deliberately low.