Since 1955, American writer Patricia Smith has created a series of crime novels based on the fictional character Tom Ripley, which has recently been implemented as a remake.
As early as 1999, the novel had been adapted into a film version, "The Heart Plan". Although the film is also based on the original book, the difference is that although the author has made it clear that the original story does not have a homosexual plot, the final film is adapted into a classic work of crime and queer elements.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > a serial murder case stemming from a little lie</h1>
The serial murders throughout the novel series are actually based on a fortuitous encounter: the male protagonist, Tom Ripley, is entrusted by a wealthy shipbuilder to travel to Italy to persuade the rich businessman's son, Dickie Grilla, to return to the United States; however, Tom Ripley does not actually know each other, and initially lies only out of vanity, but eventually leads to a series of irreparable murders.
The protagonist of the story, Tom Ripley, is a young man who is good at imitating others and is also a homosexual. He became acquainted with a rich man and lied that he knew the rich man's son, Dickie Grilla, and was his college classmate. The rich man then asked Tom Ripley to go to Italy to persuade Dickie Grelia to return to the United States, and was willing to pay him a large sum of money for it.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > fatal possessiveness</h1>
Like the novel, the film is set in the United States in the 1950s. Homosexuality was still a taboo in society at that time, and because of this custom, the protagonist found the rich man's son, Dickie Grilla, and gradually fell in love with the charismatic him, and the incident became uncontrollable. In that conservative era, it was difficult for both parties to openly express their same-sex love; but Tom Ripley, who was deeply attracted to the other, turned his fascination with Dickie Grinlylia into a fatal possessiveness after being rejected by the other.
After this emotion intensified, Tom Ripley suddenly confessed his heart to the other party, how to expect to be fiercely rejected by the ideal lover, this blow made him hate, and then killed the other party, and then a series of deception scenes were staged: stealing the deceased's check, killing Dickie Grilia's friend to avoid showing his horse's feet, and finally pushing the murder into the entanglement of the two deceased themselves.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > self-deception under excessive inferiority</h1>
In the play, Tom Ripley is born in the lower class, but has extraordinary piano talent, but because of his inferiority, vanity and jealousy, he chooses to treat people with deception; his emotions can only be suppressed because of the gender norms of society, and finally he thinks that the ideal lover will treat him sincerely.
< h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > humble love</h1>
Dickie Grilla, who fascinated Tom Ripley, didn't know each other at all, didn't take them seriously, or even just saw them as followers, but the humble Tom Ripley didn't think so, and as long as he could be around him, he was overjoyed, and he also enjoyed pretending to be a high-class person. Despite Dickie Grelia's arrogance, Tom Ripley was fascinated.
In the original book, the author did not explicitly outline Tom's sexual orientation, and even made it clear that the character he created was not gay. In the novel, Tom's killings are markedly self-interested and premeditated—he doesn't have much attachment to Dickie Grinlia in order to replace Dickie Grinlia and steal the identity of the other high-class person.
However, the film version adds a lot of ink to this same-sex love, which was taboo in society at the time: Tom Ripley, who loves Dickie Grinlia, not only imitates each other's behavior, but also wants to be with each other all the time; after killing Dickie, Tom also holds the other person's body in a sick state.
The film version of "Genius Ripley" is undoubtedly as bloodthirsty as the novel, but it has more of a fascination and stubbornness beyond rationality; although it is far from the original book, the film adaptation makes people appear more three-dimensional.