THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY

Whether you loved Saltburn or loathed it, you have to admit that it is essentially Talented Mr. Ripley fan fiction. (Maybe you think it’s very good fan fiction, but it doesn’t forge much new ground.) And there can really be no substitute for the homoeroticism of every charged interaction between Ripley (Matt Damon) and Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law) in this remarkably nuanced psychological thriller that inspired countless imitators. Anthony Minghella’s adaptation makes the grifter’s gayness all but text, showing Ripley asking to join Dickie in the bathtub, and even including a male lover in its third act, though the relationship is never outright specified. At his core, this incarnation of Ripley wants to be gay in Italy, own expensive art, and play the piano — and if he has to crack a few skulls to live that life, so be it. Who among us wouldn’t murder someone for a gorgeously appointed Rome apartment?

***** NOVEMBER: RIPLEY *****

Who is the gayest version of Ripley ever put on screen? Given the (…) TV series, and all the Saltburn-adjacent interest in homoerotic class climbing in a dark academia setting, I have been immersing myself in the Ripley-verse to find out if we’ve been sleeping on any of the lesser known portrayals. None of these movies are officially connected to each other, and some of them present radically different versions of the character, but they all treat us to the simple pleasures of watching a handsome man do terrible things. You might think the bathtub scene in the ’99 version is about as queer as Ripley can get (and yes, Saltburn’s bathtub scene was almost certainly inspired by that one), but that’s not necessarily the case.

(Samantha Allen, Them)