“Purple Noon” A picaresque romance about Tom Ripley, the man who rebelled against the sun, until his destruction.

Desire to transform from a poor person to a rich person

It is famous that Nagaharu Yodogawa once denied that Ripley was gay. Roger Ebert also wrote in a column that "although not directly mentioned, there is clearly a hidden level of homosexual attraction."

However, to be honest, with my level of appreciation, I don't really understand the taste. The scene where Ripley kisses herself in the mirror is often cited as the basis for the theory that Ripley is gay. Apparently, ``Ripley, who plays Philip, kisses the mirror, so it's the same as Ripley kissing Philip! That's why Ripley likes Philip!'' But is that really true? To me, it just looks like a desire to transform, ``the poor want to metamorphose into the rich.''

Certainly, the remake version of ``Ripley'' was deeply imprinted with that taste. Ripley, played by Matt Damon, clearly expresses her romantic feelings for Dickie, played by Jude Law (who plays the same role as Philip), and is also shown falling into a romantic relationship with a young man named Peter.

"Ripley" preview

The original author, Patricia Highsmith, is herself gay, and her 1952 novel " The Price of Salt " (which was made into a film by director Todd Haynes as " Carol " in 2015) depicts a romance between women. Considering that, the theory that Ripley is gay is very possible. However, it is unclear whether or not Ripley, at least in "Full of Purple Noon," is gay. Rather, René Clément is trying to thoroughly conceal who he is. Tom Ripley is a character whose backbone is never really seen. A poor, lonely, ambitious young man, that's all.

The opening of the movie is symbolic. Full of Purple Noon begins with Ripley and Philip talking in a Roman cafe. He can do whatever he wants, such as buying a blind man's cane for 20,000 lire and pretending to be a blind man with that cane to seduce women. At first glance, I thought the two were old friends, but Philip says, ``I only recently met him.''

In the remake of ``Ripley,'' the story begins when Ripley is asked by the millionaire Greenleaf to ``bring back his son Dickie (who has a different name but plays the same role as Philip)''. And Ripley studies jazz hard to get Dicky's attention. However, ``Purple Noon'' completely skips that important introduction. It's a rather tricky structure, but it produces the effect that, as the story progresses, Ripley becomes more mysterious and incomprehensible.

Yes, ``Purple Noon'' is a picaresque romance about an unknown man who commits murder and ends up destroying himself.