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Purple Noon
(Plein soleil)

Screening on Film
Directed by René Clément.
With Alain Delon, Maurice Ronet, Marie Laforêt.
France, 1962, 35mm, black & white, 119 min.
French with English subtitles.

Based on Patricia Highsmith’s novel The Talented Mr. Ripley, René Clément’s stylish 1960 adaptation stars Alain Delon as the pathological chameleon who ingratiates himself into the lives of the rich and idle. Delon’s Ripley is both delightfully hedonistic and sublimely creepy as he plots to murder and assume the identity of an American industrialist’s son. Set against the sun- and color-drenched shades of the Italian Riviera, this noirish thriller, superbly photographed by Henri Decaë, provides a tautly crafted critique of class and desire.
 

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