Version Details

Cast

• Nerio Bernardi
• Marie Laforêt - Marge Duval
• Frank Latimore - O'Brien
• Ave Ninchi - Signora Gianna
• Maurice Ronet - Philippe Greenleaf
• Romy Schneider - Freddy's companion
• Erno Crisa - Inspector Riccordi
• Elvire Popesco - Mme. Popova
• Jess Hahn
• Billy Kearns - Freddy
• Alain Delon - Tom Ripley

Crew

• Producer: Raymond Hakim ,Robert Hakim
• Editor: Francoise Javet
• Art Director: Paul Bertrand
• Composer (Music Score): Nino Rota
• Choreography: Jean Guelis
• Screenwriter: Paul Gégauff
• Director: René Clément
• Screenwriter: René Clément
• Cinematographer: Henri Decaë
• Book Author: Patricia Highsmith

Related Movies

• Forbidden Games - DVD

Purple Noon: AMG Review
AMG

In plot and tone, René Clément's Purple Noon is closer to the spirit of Patricia Highsmith than Anthony Minghella's high profile 1999 adaptation of The Talented Mr. Ripley. Where Minghella attempted to give the characters psychological motivation, Clement presents Tom Ripley has nothing other than a self-serving killer. Henri Decaë's cinematography is as pathologically removed from the action as Tom; the aristocratic Mediterranean backdrop is somehow flat and sickly unalluring. With an impassive eye and steady pace Ripley's crimes unfold with cold-blooded rational. This story telling deliberately wrecks havoc with the audience's sympathies. Tom is a villain but we can't help but identify with his attempts to avoid capture for his murder, and we are ruthlessly pushed and pulled between feeling anxiety for his safety and for the welfare of his potential victims. Alain Delon is both a blank slate and an eager young man on the make, like Tony Curtis' Sidney Falco with no qualms about making compromises because he has no morals to compromise. The film similarly refuses to take a moral stance on its characters. With her Ripley books, Highsmith deliberately played into the gothic frisson elicited by watching a monstrously bad deed go unpunished and Clement also understands the allure of a well-structured bit of entertainment that dares the audience to indulge their darkest instincts. In 1996, Purple Noon was theatrically re-released in the United States by Martin Scorsese in conjunction with Miramax Zoe. ~ All Movie Guide

Purple Noon: AMG Review
Michael Buening , AMG

In plot and tone, René Clément's Purple Noon is closer to the spirit of Patricia Highsmith than Anthony Minghella's high profile 1999 adaptation of The Talented Mr. Ripley. Where Minghella attempted to give the characters psychological motivation, Clement presents Tom Ripley has nothing other than a self-serving killer. Henri Decaë's cinematography is as pathologically removed from the action as Tom; the aristocratic Mediterranean backdrop is somehow flat and sickly unalluring. With an impassive eye and steady pace Ripley's crimes unfold with cold-blooded rational. This story telling deliberately wrecks havoc with the audience's sympathies. Tom is a villain but we can't help but identify with his attempts to avoid capture for his murder, and we are ruthlessly pushed and pulled between feeling anxiety for his safety and for the welfare of his potential victims. Alain Delon is both a blank slate and an eager young man on the make, like Tony Curtis' Sidney Falco with no qualms about making compromises because he has no morals to compromise. The film similarly refuses to take a moral stance on its characters. With her Ripley books, Highsmith deliberately played into the gothic frisson elicited by watching a monstrously bad deed go unpunished and Clement also understands the allure of a well-structured bit of entertainment that dares the audience to indulge their darkest instincts. In 1996, Purple Noon was theatrically re-released in the United States by Martin Scorsese in conjunction with Miramax Zoe. ~ Michael Buening, All Movie Guide