However, before that book, Highsmith penned a crucial bridge novel in 1955: . Yet, there is a specific psychological figure that haunts the series—a version of Tom that is not a striver or a chameleon, but a settled, comfortable monster. In French literary criticism and among hardcore fans, this figure is often referred to as Monsieur Ripley . The Birth of the Gentleman Criminal The shift from Mr. Ripley to Monsieur Ripley is a shift in class and confidence. In the first novel, Tom is an American nobody—a sociopathic grifter living in New York, scamming the IRS and sleeping in a squalid boarding house. When he is sent to Italy to coax the playboy Dickie Greenleaf home, he operates from a place of desperation. His murders (Dickie, then Freddie Miles) are reactive, clumsy, and soaked in panic.
The true Monsieur Ripley appears most fully in René Clément’s 1960 French-Italian adaptation, Purple Noon ( Plein Soleil ), starring Alain Delon. Here, Delon’s Ripley is cold, beautiful, and utterly French in his aesthetic cruelty. He is not pitiable. He is enviable. monsieur ripley
Unlike the chaotic streets of 1950s New York or the expat beaches of Mongibello, the French countryside offers Ripley a shield. The local gendarmes do not bother the wealthy Monsieur who pays his taxes on time. Highsmith uses the French setting to ask a profound question: If evil is quiet, well-mannered, and socially useful, is it still evil? It is important to distinguish Monsieur Ripley from his cinematic counterparts. While Minghella’s film is a masterpiece of tragic longing, it ends with Tom still yearning, still alone, staring at a ring in the dark. However, before that book, Highsmith penned a crucial