Ripley's Game (film)
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| Ripley's Game | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Liliana Cavani |
| Starring | John Malkovich Dougray Scott Ray Winstone Lena Headey Chiara Caselli |
| Music by | Ennio Morricone |
| Cinematography | Alfio Contini |
| Editing by | Jon Harris |
| Distributed by | Fine Line Features (USA) |
| Release date(s) | February 16, 2004 |
| Running time | 110 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $30,000,000 |
Ripley's Game (2002) is a feature film based on the 1974 novel of the same name, the third in Patricia Highsmith's "Ripliad," a series of books chronicling the murderous adventures of con artist Tom Ripley. John Malkovich stars as Highsmith's anti-hero, opposite Dougray Scott and Ray Winstone.
The director is the veteran Italian filmmaker Liliana Cavani, whose career dates back to the 1960s and includes one of the 1970s' most controversial movies, The Night Porter.
Highsmith's novel was previously adapted in 1977 as The American Friend by director Wim Wenders, starring Dennis Hopper and Bruno Ganz.
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[edit] Plot
A wealthy Tom Ripley is living in Italy and is involved in an art scam in Berlin, partnered with Reeves, a crude British gangster whom he orders to remain out on the street as the deal goes down.
A violent argument breaks out in which Ripley kills one of his "customers." He gives the money to Reeves but takes the artwork for himself, curtly informing Reeves that their partnership is over.
Ripley returns to the Italian villa he shares with his wife Luisa, a beautiful harpsichordist. Invited to a party by a neighbor, Ripley is having a pleasant time until he overhears the host, Jonathan Trevanny, calling him a "tasteless American snob". Ripley briefly confronts him, then sullenly leaves the party.
Reeves resurfaces, much to Ripley's annoyance. He wants Ripley to kill someone for him. Remembering the slight, Ripley recommends that an amateur do it -- Trevanny, a law-abiding art framer who is dying of leukemia.
Trevanny is astounded and can't understand how Reeves came to choose him. However, he is tempted by the money, which he could leave to his wife, Sarah, upon his death.
He goes through with the job, a hit in Berlin, which he assumes will be a one-time-only assignment. Reeves has other ideas, however. He blackmails Trevanny into taking on another assassination, this time a complicated one on a train.
Ripley intervenes in the nick of time. After a series of grisly murders on the train, Trevanny returns home, where he attempts to persuade Sarah that the money he suddenly possesses is the result of his having volunteered for an experimental medical treatment in Berlin.
The victims' men come to Italy seeking revenge, storming the villa and leaving Reeves' body in a car trunk. Ripley has set traps for them, however, and dispatches each with Trevanny's help.
A horrified Sarah confronts Trevanny just as yet another killer comes to their home. Ripley arrives in time to save their lives, but in the end Trevanny sacrifices himself to save Ripley. Genuinely puzzled by Trevanny's selflessness, Ripley tries to give Sarah her husband's share of the money but she spits in his face. Ripley returns to his daily life, as if nothing has happened.
[edit] Cast
- John Malkovich as Tom Ripley
- Dougray Scott as Trevanny
- Ray Winstone as Reeves
- Lena Headey as Sarah
- Chiara Caselli as Luisa
[edit] Reception
The film has earned mostly positive critical reviews, rating 95% on Rotten Tomatoes.[1] Roger Ebert added Ripley's Game to his "Great Movies" list, calling it "the best of the four" Ripley films he had seen (Purple Noon, The American Friend, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Ripley's Game) and Malkovich "precisely the Tom Ripley I imagine when I read the novels," praising what he felt to be "one of [his] most brilliant and insidious performances."[2] Ebert criticized the decision not to release the film theatrically in North America, writing: "The failure to open it theatrically was a shameful blunder."[3]
Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film 3.5 stars out of 4, writing: "Malkovich oils himself around the plot -- icy cool one moment, blazingly violent the next -- with a master's finesse. Highsmith wrote five Ripley novels, and other actors have played the part, most recently and most blandly Matt Damon in The Talented Mr. Ripley. But Malkovich owns the role. He plays it for keeps."[4] David Rooney of Variety wrote, "Malkovich's elegantly malicious performance gives Ripley's Game a magnetic center, complemented by Liliana Cavani's efficient direction and an enjoyable retro feel that recalls the British Cold War thrillers of the 1960s. Despite some pedestrian plotting and a final act that could be tighter, this is suspenseful adult entertainment that should find a receptive audience."[5]
Other critics were less favorable, such as Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian, who gave the film two stars out of five.[6] Some critics compared the film unfavorably to the 1977 Wim Wenders adaptation, The American Friend. Nathan Rabin of The Onion's A.V. Club remarked, "Ripley's Game fatally lacks the squirmy, desperate humanity that made Wenders' take on the same material so hauntingly tragic. Like Malkovich's suavely generic international criminal, it's all craft and no soul, with complexity and depth functioning as collateral damage for its slick thriller mechanics."[7] Neil Young's Film Lounge, giving Ripley's Game a score of 6 out of 10, called the film a "largely uninspired" adaptation by a "pedestrian" director, calling The American Friend "brilliant" by comparison, feeling that "any viewer who is a fan of Highsmith and/or The American Friend will have major problems with this version."[8]
[edit] References
- ^ Ripley's Game Movie Reviews, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes
- ^ Ripley's Game :: rogerebert.com :: Great Movies
- ^ A talented Mr. Ripley gets snubbed :: rogerebert.com :: Answer Man
- ^ Ripley's Game : Review : Rolling Stone
- ^ Ripley's Game Review - Read Variety's Analysis Of The Movie Ripley's Game
- ^ Ripley's Game | Culture | The Guardian
- ^ Ripley's Game| DVD | Review | The A.V. Club
- ^ Neil Young's Film Lounge - Ripley's Game
[edit] External links
- Ripley's Game at the Internet Movie Database
- Ripley's Game at Rotten Tomatoes
- Filmografia di Liliana Cavani
- Two Faces of Ripley, filmbrain.com comparison of The American Friend and Ripley's Game
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