Elizabeth

SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

I wanted to mention that my new novel, The Bigger Picture, a mystery for movie lovers, like its prequel, Out of the Picture, is now available on Kindle. The link to Amazon is:

https://www.amazon.com/Bigger-Picture-Augustus-Cileone/dp/0997096284/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1527711220&sr=1-1&keywords=cileonea

The new novel deals with the double sexual standard, as does Elizabeth. And, since we have had a British royal wedding recently, this 1998 drama seems a good film to discuss. It may appear historically accurate, but it is really speculative fiction about how Elizabeth I of England turned into the renowned ruler that history actually documents. So, it is really a fictional prequel based on facts. The story shows the movement of the title character from what appears to be an innocent young woman in carefree love to a worldly monarch who sees only danger in the traditional attitudes of men toward women.

We are told at the beginning that the year is 1554, King Henry VIII is dead, and his daughter, Mary Tudor is Queen. However, she has no child to ascend to the throne. She is a Catholic, and the country is torn between catholics and protestants. Elizabeth is her half-sister, the child of Henry and Anne Boleyn, whose marriage was not recognized by the Catholic Church. The catholics consider Elizabeth an illegitimate offspring, and because she is protestant, a heretic.

The first shot is of someone savagely cutting the hair off of a screaming woman as blood runs down her scalp (this foreshadows a different type of hair cutting at the end of the movie). Having long beautiful hair indicated that a woman was a virgin emphasizing her physical attributes to attract a male. The extreme shortening of this woman’s hair was to symbolize a lack of purity. In the sixteenth century, people are deadly serious about what they consider to be religious heresy. The woman, along with two other persons, are burned at the stake as protestant sympathizers, while a bishop presides over the ceremony, proclaiming that these three will burn forever in hell. The scene powerfully stresses the barbaric nature to which religion can descend when its self-righteous element predominates.

Camera angles carry meaning in this film. The opening shot and others look down from on high at the events below. It provides the audience a more inclusive view of events, but it also implies a perception that maybe God is looking down on the actions of people, whose lives are many times petty compared to the grand scope of eternal time.

The Duke of Norfolk (Christopher Eccleston) learns from a female servant that Queen Mary Tudor (Kathy Burke) has not had a period recently and her belly is fuller. Norfolk considers the possibility that Mary may be pregnant, although the servant says that her husband has not been sharing her bed. The use of a spy (the servant) to ascertain information here is one instance of many in the film of how benign appearances are used to deceive others in order to advance a more sinister agenda. The main underlying conspiracy here is to at first prevent Elizabeth from becoming a protestant queen, and later, to either weaken her power, or remove her from the throne once she becomes the ruler. Norfolk meets with the Queen, a cleric, and a representative from the Spanish royalty, Alvaro de la Quadra (James Frain), to try and link Elizabeth to a conspiracy against the Queen. On the surface these people are supposed to be noble personages, but they conspire to discuss ways of falsely accusing Elizabeth of treason. Mary tells Norfolk to find proof of treachery, implying he will invent evidence if need be.

There is a scene with the young Princess Elizabeth (Cate Blanchett), who is great in any role) practicing dancing in a field with her female entourage. It is a bright scene, pastoral, full of innocent joy. And, it depicts the excitement of youthful hope in the anticipation of a developing love as Lord Robert Dudley (Joseph Fiennes) arrives. He enters the scene on horseback, the animal an archetypal symbol of male sexuality.  Lord Robert woos Elizabeth, but we have a contrasting cut to men riding in armor, an image of the violent side of men as opposed to the romantic one. These soldiers arrive to disrupt Elizabeth’s happy time with an accusation that Elizabeth has conspired against Queen Mary. Before taking her to the Tower of London to be imprisoned, Lord Robert tells her “Remember who you are. Do not be afraid of them.” His empowering words, reminding Elizabeth that she comes from royalty and that she should not be frightened in this world run by men, reverberate throughout the story, and, ironically, bring about Lord Robert’s own downfall.

Even though she is trembling as others interrogate her, she says she is not intimidated into confessing to a conspiracy in which she has not participated. She is also ahead of her time, but naive considering the era, by advocating that “this small question of religion” should not tear the country apart. She seeks common ground by saying “we all believe in God.” But, the reality of the rigidity of religion shown in the first scene of the film is repeated here as she is told that there is only one true religion, and the other is heresy. Queen Mary is not pregnant but really has a tumor (a sort of plot element that underpins the theme of a benevolent appearance - pregnancy - disguising a malignant truth below - the tumor). She summons Elizabeth wanting her half-sister to assure her that the country will remain catholic. Elizabeth enters the Queen’s chamber through a door painted with the Virgin Mary nursing the baby Jesus. This image contains multiple suggestions. First, it is a catholic inspired painting, and Elizabeth coming through a portal behind it implies that she will replace the catholic presence with a protestant one. Also, the typical role of a woman is to bear children, and Elizabeth, as we will see, defies the traditional attitudes toward women. The scene is also a foreshadowing of Elizabeth emulating the virgin aspect of Mary, as she will become known as The Virgin Queen, a secular version of the religious mother, whose title conveys a rejection of a woman conquered by men by means of gender dominance.

Queen Mary is desperate, saying that her often absent husband has now deserted her for good. She is in denial about the physicians telling her she has a tumor, believing instead that conspirators poisoned her unborn child. She tells Elizabeth that all she has to do is sign her sister’s death sentence to stop her from becoming a heretic on the throne. But, Elizabeth shows strength by not giving in, saying that she will act according to her conscience. She points out that they share the same father, Henry VIII, which means that Elizabeth, too, is of royal lineage. She reminds Mary that she will be killing her sister. Playing the sibling and guilt cards works and Elizabeth can go home, although under guard. She walks steadily through the hall filled with noblemen, and after she leaves, laughs when she hears Norfolk berating his fellow men for being intimidated by the young princess. Norfolk hears that Sir Francis Walsingham (Geoffrey Rush) is returning to England at the request of Sir William Cecil (Richard Attenborough) to protect Elizabeth, and, privately, this information worries Norfolk, and rightly so, as we shall see.

There is a cut to Walsingham musing philosophically to a young man. Is he a youthful lover, or possibly a protege? In any event, the scene quickly reveals Walsingham’s character. He says, “There is so little beauty in the world, and so much suffering. Do you suppose that is what God had in mind? That is to say that there is a god at all. Perhaps there is nothing in this universe but ourselves. And our thoughts.” This short speech shows Walsingham to hold a rather negative view of the world with little redeeming quality, which leads him to question the existence of a god that would allow so much “suffering.” So, he has no allegiance to a supernatural being, and blames the ills of the world on the human race, which he deals with in a coldly efficient pragmatic manner. The young man, perhaps sent to get close to Walsingham in order to assassinate him, pulls a dagger. To further the theme in the movie, the young man appears harmless, but is there to commit murder. Walsingham tells him coolly, even in the face of his own death, to consider what he is about to do, and if decides to go through with the killing, do it without regret. The young man does not go through with the murder. Walsingham says to him that innocence is the most precious thing, “lose it, and you lose your soul.” His words echo the fall from God’s grace of Adam and Eve once they forfeited their innocence and ate the fruit from the tree of knowledge that informed them about the existence of evil. Walsingham has lost what for him was the bliss of being ignorant of the corruption of the world, and now so has the youth in his assassination attempt. For that, Walsingham kills him.

Sir William is one of the few noblemen who tries to protect Elizabeth, although in a traditionally male patronizing way. He meets with her for safety in a confessional booth and warns her not to associate with anyone which may compromise her. He advises against having romantic liaisons with Lord Robert, which can be used as a way to attack her on moral grounds. The meeting in the confessional also serves symbolically to show that a place which appears to be used for holy reasons has been subverted to actually be used for secular, political purposes. Elizabeth is now losing her innocence as she has to deal with political maneuvering. Sir William has Elizabeth meet with the ambassador from Spain, Alvaro, who proposes that a marriage to his king will ensure Elizabeth’s protection with an alliance to another monarch. The Spanish want to make sure that with Elizabeth becoming a secondary figure through marriage to the Spanish king, Catholicism will remain the ruling religion in England. He assures Elizabeth that she will only have to see the king two or three times a year. So much for romantic love. Elizabeth is outraged since Mary is still alive and Elizabeth is not yet queen.

Faced with the objectionable Spanish offer of marriage, Elizabeth disobeys Sir William’s order (another example of her female defiance) and meets with Lord Robert. He wonders if, after she is queen, and has “a court to worship you, a country to obey you, poems written celebrating your beauty, music composed in your honor,” he will mean nothing to her. She laughs and asks “How could you ever be nothing to me? Robert, you know you are everything to me.” At that moment she is very much in love, and has hope for the two of them. His words are a foreshadowing of what is to come.

On Mary’s deathbed, Norfolk pleads for the dying queen to sign the order to put Elizabeth to death. She does not, and Lord Sussex (Jamie Foreman) rides to deliver the ring that appoints Elizabeth as the new ruler. The scene showing the acceptance of the ring has Elizabeth going outside into total whiteness, which signifies her ascending to a higher realm, but which implies a distancing from those she associated with on a lower social level. As she accepts the ring, Elizabeth’s voice transforms. It becomes deeper, more authoritative, as she says, “This is the Lord’s doing.” Her words lend spiritual justification to her becoming queen. She adds, “It is marvelous in our eyes.” She quickly adopts the use of the royal first person plural with the use of the word “our,” showing how she now identifies herself as the representative of the people of England. The British believed in the concept of The Chain of Being. It stated that there was a vertical order with God at the top and all living creatures on earth were placed in descending order in this hierarchy based on their intrinsic worth. The royal leader was at the top of the chain, touching the divine and acting as God’s representative on earth.

The coronation is a sumptuous affair, full of pomp and circumstance, with Norfolk, reluctantly, playing the role of the nobleman who must deliver to the new monarch the objects, the scepter, the crown, etc., that are the symbols that legitimize Elizabeth as Queen of England, Ireland, and France. What follows however is in stark contrast as the noblemen meet with Elizabeth in private and attempt to undermine her authority. They tell her that the kingdom is in dire straights, with no money and no armed forces. They do not see her as capable of ruling since she is a woman, and they suggest that she must marry and produce an heir in order to secure the order assured by a line of succession. So, basically, they are telling her that she is only good for breeding. She wants no more talk of marriage, and in a rebellious statement, says she wonders why women marry at all, which is the opposite belief of the time which saw women’s only power relegated to providing sex and procreation.

Walsingham almost seems to float around the periphery of meetings, almost an invisible spy, observing those at a court party, and assessing threats to Elizabeth, including Norfolk and the Spanish ambassador, Alvaro. Here, the French emissary, Monsieur de Foix (Eric Cantona), with Sir William at his side, proposes to Elizabeth the benefits of marrying a French nobleman. Elizabeth, provocatively but shrewdly, says she wonders why the French have helped fortify the garrison for Mary Queen of Scots (Fanny Ardant), who is a Catholic who wants to replace Elizabeth on the throne. Sir William knows that Lord Robert is sleeping with Elizabeth, and he tells the ladies in her entourage that he wants to see the Queen’s bed sheets so he can monitor her bodily functions. The assumption is to see if she has lost her virginity and whether or not she no longer menstruates because she is pregnant. He says that she has lost privacy by becoming Queen of England. But, it also points to the sexist attitude of marginalizing Elizabeth based on her childbearing potential.

We again have contrasting scenes, where the joys of Elizabeth’s lovemaking with Lord Robert are diminished by Norfolk riding to confront Elizabeth, violating her bedroom privacy, by rudely requiring her to deal with Mary, Queen of Scots. The French are increasing their reinforcements in Scotland. Again, the noblemen try to bully Elizabeth, urging her to go to war with Scotland. Even Lord Robert agrees to the war, if Elizabeth believes it is necessary for her safety. Only Walsingham says it is not a good idea to react too hastily, making it look like she is afraid of her own shadow. Elizabeth declares that she does not like the unpredictability of wars. However, she agrees to the attack. We then see the aftermath of the battle with Mary, Queen of Scots, where most of the British soldiers, consisting of young boys, have been slaughtered.

There is again a shot from above, as if from the view of God in heaven, assessing human action. Elizabeth is fuming, finding no solace in the company of her ladies, and is feeling abandoned since Lord Robert has gone hunting. She goes to a large portrait of her father, Henry VIII, as if to derive inspiration as to how to proceed. This scene is lit darkly, in contrast to the brightness of earlier scenes infused with happiness with Lord Robert and when she was first appointed Queen of England. Her hair is no longer straight, but is curling, as if to suggest how twisted the affairs of humans can become once innocence is left behind. Walsingham interrupts her despair as he attempts to make her face the reality of the treachery against her. He tells her that the Catholic Bishops, from their pulpits, supposedly places of higher morality, told their adult male parishioners not to join the fight against the French troops in Scotland. He tells her that they have no fear of Elizabeth, and want to depict her as a failed ruler, who will not survive.

Elizabeth angrily confronts Lord Robert for not being at court when she needed him, but which reinforces her growing independence from men. However, she must capitulate to political necessity and agrees to meet with Duc d’Anjou (Vincent Cassel) to consider marriage to him to cement English-French relations due to the defeat in Scotland. Monsieur de Foix tells Sir William that having Lord Robert as a romantic rival is not acceptable, and Sir William, who on the surface is supposed to be Elizabeth’s ally, says that Lord Robert’s head will be on a pike rather than be on a pillow in the Queen’s bed. Sir William cares about England, but is not really concerned about Elizabeth as an individual.

We see Elizabeth using her increasing political abilities when she addresses the noblemen and the bishops. Although she wanted to mitigate religion as an issue, she has found she must quiet the conflict, and asks for the country to declare one Church of England to bring unity to the land. However, that would mean denying Catholicism its religious rule over England. She pretends to be “only a woman” and as such can’t force the noblemen to do anything, thus playing up to their male idea of superiority. Instead, she appeals to the English virtue of “common sense,” arguing that there cannot be loyalty to two different masters. The men shift the argument to the need for her to marry, but she says to one nobleman that he shouldn’t give marriage advice since he was twice-divorced, and now married a third time. This statement draws laughter, as she wins the crowd over with her sense of humor. Walsingham is present and he smiles, showing admiration for Elizabeth’s skills. He has locked up five noblemen who are on Norfolk’s side, and Elizabeth gets her way by exactly five votes, which shows Walsingham’s insight and skill at getting results by whatever means necessary.

But the catholic side ups the game of treachery. The Pope (John Gielgud, in his last movie role), meets with an English priest, John Ballard (Daniel Craig), who the Pope orders to assassinate Elizabeth as a heretic. Here we have supposedly the holiest man on earth sending another man of God, ironically, to do the work of the Devil. Ballard has letters of dispensation from the Pope to absolve any Englishman who will end Elizabeth’s life, which is an unholy act by a seemingly holy man. When Ballard arrives on the shores of England he has intelligence (this is more like secret agent stuff than pious activity) that Sir Thomas Elyot (Kenny Doughty) is Walsingham’s spy in Norfolk’s camp. Ballard drags Elyot off along the beach and brutally murders him by beating him with a rock. You wouldn’t want this fellow to dole out penance after your confession.

Duc d’Anjou arrives and he is a prankster, pretending to be a servant at first, then grabbing and kissing Elizabeth, whispering to her what it would be like when they are in bed together. His French crudeness contrasts with English reserve. This division between the two countries is stressed when Elizabeth leaves her reserved English party and visits d’Anjou’s decadent gathering, where he is wearing a dress. A smiling Elizabeth says with understated British humor that she doesn’t think things will work out between the two of them.

Earlier, Elizabeth is on a barge with Lord Robert, who recites poetry to the Queen, and asks her to marry him. She seems reluctant to say yes, as she does not like being pressured by all these men to get married, thus relinquishing her independence and power to a man. She flaunts her relationship with Robert at the French and Spanish envoys revealing her rebellious nature in front of those who want to exert their wills on her. This lighthearted scene suddenly becomes deadly serious as arrows zing into the barge. One of Elizabeth's men is killed, and the Queen is nearly pierced by an arrow. Walsingham, always on the job, whisks Elizabeth to safety. He concludes correctly that since the French and Spanish are trying to gain control through the marriage of Elizabeth, that it is Norfolk who has made an attempt on Elizabeth’s life.

The French representative, Monsieur de Foix, wanting to eliminate Lord Robert as a rival, tells Elizabeth that she cannot marry Robert because he already has a wife. So, even the one man who she feels she can be intimate with and trust, has been deceiving her. At a dance she confronts Lord Robert with this truth, and he pleads to her and says, “For God’s sake, you are still my Elizabeth.” The Queen angrily responds to the possessive nature of that statement by saying, “I am not your Elizabeth. I am no man’s Elizabeth. And if you think to rule, you are mistaken.” She has made her declaration of independence from all men, telling them she is their ruler.

Elizabeth refuses to see Lord Robert and he becomes bitter and overwhelmed by her rejection. He is now fertile ground for the conspirators plotting against the Queen. The Spanish ambassador, who urges Norfolk to remove Elizabeth, tells Robert that Elizabeth is in danger, and he can protect the Queen by cooperating with him. One of Elizabeth’s ladies is attracted to Robert. She notices a dress sent as a gift to Elizabeth, and decides to wear it in order to seduce Robert. Here again Elizabeth is undermined by a supposedly trusted servant, who uses her closeness to the Queen to lure the man who loves her. Robert, in a perverted desire for a surrogate Elizabeth, has sex with the servant while she wears the dress. The woman’s cries of ecstasy turn into cries of pain. The dress has been poisoned, meant to kill Elizabeth. We have a piece of clothing that appears to be a gift and is beautiful on the outside, but contains poison below its enticing exterior. The dress is an effective symbol to further the theme of the villainous treachery that lies beneath supposedly pleasing exteriors. This idea is immediately reinforced by the slow motion advancing of the assassin priest, Ballard, in a monk’s robe, a piece of religious apparel, which also hides his face, as he violates Elizabeth’s sanctuary, penetrating her defenses. The effect makes him simultaneously to appear holy as he makes the sign of the cross, but also covertly deadly, looking like the Grim Reaper. The plot concerning the dress has not worked out, and the commotion surrounding the finding of the dead woman causes Ballard to run for cover.

Walsingham has no problem fighting fire with fire. He pretends to be defecting to the other side. He is like The Godfather’s Luca Brasi, only successful. He visits Queen Mary in Scotland while d’Anjou is visiting. He says that Elizabeth should never have rejected d’Anjou. He states that he has come to realize that Elizabeth has no allies, only enemies, and it will only be a matter of time before she is overthrown. With a double meaning, in an attempt to seduce Mary, he says a wise man, to avoid harm to himself, would change allegiance and “get into bed” with one of her enemies. We then hear d’Anjou’s screams as he discovers the dead Mary naked in her bed. Walsingham, adopting the enemy’s ploy of presenting a friendly front, used the disguise of affection in order to deceive and then kill Mary.

Lord Robert is now a pawn of Alvaro, the Spanish ambassador, in the political chess game. Robert is able to meet with Elizabeth and he tells her that she is in danger. If she agrees to ally herself with Spain, he can guarantee her safety. Robert is making himself a pimp, trying to deliver Elizabeth to the Spanish king, who she will only visit occasionally. Robert is willing to give her up officially so that they can continue their affair. We have him here being a full supporter of keeping up deceptive appearances. Elizabeth, knowing about his having sex with her lady servant, rejects him, and says what he is proposing is to make her his “whore.”

Sir William tells Elizabeth to denounce the murder of Mary, Queen of Scots, and with a sideways look at Walsingham, says she did not order it (which is probably true, but she is apparently okay with the results at this point, not distancing herself from Walsingham). She reluctantly is accepting the brutal reality of being a world ruler. Sir William continues to say that she “must” ally with Spain. Elizabeth, asserting herself, says he dare not use the word “must” to her, and it implies that he would not use it if he were talking to a man. He continues his condescension by saying Elizabeth “is only a woman.” She yells at him that if she chooses, she can have “the heart of a man.” Today that sounds like she is saying that a man is stronger than a woman, but given the time, her statement asserts that she can be as strong as any man. She actually follows Lord Robert’s early advice and says, “I am not afraid of anything.” She graciously thanks Sir William for his past help, but sheds his male counseling by retiring him, and says she will rely on herself hereafter, again asserting her independence. He exchanges a bow with Walsingham, which visually communicates a changing of the guard from one man who undermined the Queen, with another who builds her confidence and empowerment.

Walsingham tells Elizabeth to not be sorry about being “ruthless” to protect herself and her country. He knows about Ballard who has conspired with her enemies. She acknowledges knowing about the priest, since she saw him at the castle, and with a hard look on her face, so foreign from the one we saw in the fields at the beginning of the film, tells Walsingham to find the priest and the conspirators. He locates the cleric, and tortures him until he gives up the Pope’s papers that implicate Norfolk and others. Norfolk only has to sign the papers to show that he agrees to remove Elizabeth from the throne. To expose Norfolk’s treason, removing his cloak of nobility, she coldly tells Walsingham, “Then let him sign it, and let it all be done.”

Walsingham uses treachery to defeat treachery by using Norfolk’s mistress to get Norfolk to sign the papers. She is to deliver them to the Pope, but instead she gives the signed document to Walsingham. What follows is obviously a nod to the ending of The Godfather. The soundtrack provides religious choir music as the conspirators are killed, the Earl of Sussex unheroically meeting his end sitting on the toilet. Alvaro, the Spanish ambassador, and other noblemen and bishops are eliminated. Walsingham visits Norfolk with soldiers and shows him the signed document that sealed his fate. He protests, his pride in his title a delusion, as he says,”I am Norfolk.” Walsingham corrects him by saying, “You were Norfolk. The dead have no titles.” He already is putting him in the past tense before he is later beheaded. Norfolk was contemptuous of a woman on the throne, but ironically is undone by the woman sleeping in his bed. He was outmaneuvered and made an example of how those who model deception may be undone by deceit. Elizabeth confronts Lord Robert who conspired with the Spanish ambassador. She allows him to live, “to always remind me of how close I came to danger” by compromising her individuality, and the power that derives from it, for a man.

We have a scene where Elizabeth is at the foot of a statue of the Virgin Mary, looking up at her. It is made of stone, something enduring, outlasting human decay. Walsingham says the Queen (being at that connecting point between the heavens and earth) represents a chance for the people to have a chance to touch the divine on earth. She says to him that Jesus’ mother had such power over men’s hearts, and Walsingham agrees that there has been no one to replace her.

Elizabeth remakes herself. She cuts her hair, whose length traditionally represented purity in a woman, as noted above. She rewrites that idea, and has her ladies apply a thick alabaster paste all over her skin, which makes her look like a statute, not a human being. She dresses in a very ornate outfit that almost appears as if it was sculpted out of stone. She has made herself appear like a religious icon. She tells her lady servant, “I have become a virgin.” She is emulating a divine woman, and emancipating herself from being the traditional sexual object of men. She royally walks among her subjects, stopping to tell Sir William, who wanted her to marry, that, “I am married … to England,” something grander than any individual man, who would only use her to satisfy his lust for dominion over her. The camera now shoots upward at Elizabeth, as she has risen to the level of adoration, like a goddess.

The postscript says that Elizabeth reigned for forty years. She never met with Robert again, and she never married. For someone who was “just a woman,” she ruled during what has become to be known as “The Golden Age” of England.

The next film is Stand and Deliver.

The Talented Mr. Ripley

SPOILER ALERT! The plot of the movie will be discussed.

Before this 1999 film, directed by Anthony Minghella, settles on its title, it offers a number of adjectives to describe the main character. Some are: troubled; intelligent; beautiful; yearning; musical. Before finalizing with “Talented,” another one shows up, which is “mysterious.” The movie suggests that he is multi-faceted, but also that there is no set of easily definable criteria to categorize him. That implication is possibly why his face is revealed during the running of the credits in strips, suggesting his personality consists of multiple puzzle pieces that may be impossible to assemble.

Who Tom Ripley (Matt Damon) is can’t be determined by a surface observation. We first see him playing a piano accompaniment at an opulent outdoor party as a young woman sings opera. But, Ripley, in an after-the-fact voice-over, says that everything would not have happened if he hadn’t borrowed a jacket. This fact coveys that he is not wealthy enough to be a guest at the proceedings. But, the jacket sports a Princeton University logo on it. We immediately see that Ripley (whose name implies that he “rips off” others) pretends to be something he is not. When Herbert Greenleaf (James Rebhorn), a wealthy shipping businessman, assumes that Tom, being a Princeton man, must know his son, Dickie, Tom embraces the deception by saying he does. Greenleaf’s wife, seeing Tom with the opera singer exchange what looks like an affectionate kiss on the cheek, says what a nice couple the two makes. Another false assumption, as Tom is just a friend, and escorts the woman to a car where her boyfriend awaits, and from whom Tom borrowed the jacket. When it comes to Ripley, the theme of appearances are deceiving has been established.

We next see Tom working as a bathroom attendant at a concert hall, brushing lint off of affluent-looking men in dinner jackets. We already know he is musical, so where he works makes sense. But, he is a person residing on the lower rung of the socio-economic ladder, and has the opportunity to infiltrate those well-off groups by clinging to their fringes, providing menial tasks. Even though nothing definite is said, it seems apparent that Tom wants the better life, probably because he feels he deserves it. And, that is why he will perpetuate frauds to become part of high society. That he wants praise and acceptance is evident because he plays the grand piano on the stage, the spotlight shining down on him, when he believes he is the only one left in the theater. However, here and elsewhere, we get a shot of half of Tom’s face, the other half hidden behind a door frame, suggesting that there is always a part of him that refuses to reveal itself, to be explained.

Tom is able to cash in on Mr. Greenleaf’s belief that he knows his son. He is to try to get Dickie to return home from Italy. According to Greenleaf, his son’s “talent,” (as opposed to Tom’s multiple talents) is to spend the allowance his father gives him. The older American generation man sees work as the one prevailing virtue, and is antagonistic toward Dickie’s indulging his interests in jazz, lounging on the beach, and sailing. These activities represent the European leisurely lifestyle. One does get a negative, almost The Great Gatsby, critique in this film of the idle young rich who are unproductive, pretentious, condescending, and dismissive of those that don’t belong in their exclusive circle.

Tom prepares for his role, like an actor pretending to be someone else, to get close to Dickie by listening to and learning about jazz while he packs for the trip in his loud dive of an apartment. Because he is funded by the rich Greenleaf, Tom sails first class to Italy, and, thus, appears to be a member of the elite. He fosters this impression when he encounters Meredith Logue (Cate Blanchett) when they are collecting their luggage. Since the chauffeur who brought Tom to the ship said that Greenleaf is a name that “opens doors,” he pretends to be Dickie with Meredith, so he will be compatible being in her company, she being from a famously rich family. She wonders why he was looking for his luggage under the letter “R.” He is quick in adapting to situations, so he says he was traveling incognito by using his mother’s maiden name. He is a man disguising who he is by saying he is traveling in disguise. Meredith comments how she envies his ability to travel light, which is significant, because he has little historical “baggage” which he carries with him. And, she wishes to dispense with hers, feeling weighed down by her family attachments, and is also traveling under an assumed name. While his motive is attention and acceptance, she seeks anonymity. So, in this story, for varying motives, people are phonies.

There are numerous mirror images in this movie. When the artist uses reflections symbolically, they usually imply multiple personality aspects, or doppelgangers. Tom looks into a mirror as he practices his Italian for his role. He says, “This is the face of Dickie,” followed by “This is my face.” He has already pretended to be Dickie once. Much later in the story, Dickie (Jude Law) calls Tom a “leech.” He wants to attach onto a person and suck the life out of him, which may cause the host to die. Tom is like a body snatcher, an unformed entity drawing its form from another. He not only wants to be accepted by the upper class, maybe loved by them, but also wants to replace one of their kind with himself, since he can’t become a member of their club based on his social standing. A metaphorical validation of this point occurs when Tom first encounters Dickie. He had been spying on Dickie and his girlfriend, Marge (Gwyneth Paltrow). He then pretends to recognize Dickie as a fellow Princetonian while casually walking on the beach where the two are sitting. Dickie does not remember him, but says his college days were like a fog, a place in which he was lost because it required him to rigorously apply himself. Dickie comments how white Tom looks. Tom says, “It’s just an undercoat,” and adds, “You know, a primer.” Tom’s joke is revealing of how he is an unfinished foundation, an incomplete person, ready for an identity to be grafted onto him. At this point he is as pale as an insubstantial ghost, looking to become incarnate.

Tom insinuates himself into Dickie and Marge’s lives by taking advantage of a courtesy invite to lunch. Dickie makes Tom feel like the help again when he asks him to make a martini, but Marge softens it by saying what a great drink she makes. Dickie says that is her talent and asks Tom what his is. He admits truthfully, although it appears comically, that his skill set includes forging signatures, telling lies, and doing impersonations. He then imitates Mr. Greenleaf, using some of Greenleaf’s words about jazz being “noise”, which impresses Dickie, and in his father’s voice, Tom admits to the plan where he is paid to get Dickie to come home. This reveal ingratiates Tom to Dickie, showing that he is really on Dickie’s side. Tom also wants Dickie to stay in Italy, so he can be part of his world. He strategically drops a bag of jazz albums onto the floor as he is ready to leave, and now Dickie is won over. He takes Tom to a jazz club, where Dickie plays the saxophone with the band, and brings Tom onstage, where he quickly picks up the lyrics, since the outside easily imprints onto him. It is appropriate that the song they sing is about someone who wants to imitate a lifestyle, like Tom. (This film reverberates its themes in almost every scene). Tom weds himself to Dickie and Marge by using Mr. Greenleaf’s payment to buy Dickie a refrigerator. As reciprocity, Dickie invites Tom to stay with them, furthering his encroachment into Dickie’s life.

Tom schools Dickey on duplicity by coaching him on writing letters to his father so as to milk Greenleaf out of more funds. In one of the father’s letters, he notes that he saw Tom with the girl at the recital. Tom pretends that he is engaged to her, affirming the misconception to be consistent with Greenleaf’s account. Dickie says that is why his father likes Tom – he is stable, settling down. We begin to see that Tom is becoming a replacement for Dickie in Greenleaf’s eyes. And, Tom, not knowing sailing, or the Italian cities, becomes a protégé, as Dickie unknowingly grooms him as a substitute.

Tom’s chameleon ability is witnessed in a chilling mirror scene where Tom, looking into his reflection, mimics both Dickie’s and Marge’s speech patterns, with pictures of his hosts also appearing in the mirror, as he handles their jewelry, coveting their possessions. Dickie even offers Tom, who has a corduroy jacket, stressing his outsider status in Italy, to wear his shirts, furthering their identification with each other.

There is a prevalent homosexual theme occurring in the film. Marge, who even though at this point likes Tom, complains to Dickie about his intrusion. She bitingly asks Dickie that if they were to marry, would they have to take Tom with them on the honeymoon, since she sees how Tom is drawn to him. Tom learned from Marge that Dickie sang “My funny Valentine” for her. Back at the jazz club, with Tom and Dickie on stage, Tom now sings the song, and we know he is singing to Dickie. When Tom takes off his glasses, Dickie says Tom doesn’t even look ugly without them. It is actually a compliment, and encourages Tom sexually, but also shows Dickie’s narcissism, as Tom looks a bit like him. Tom mentions that he is Clark Kent with the glasses, and Dickie is superman. This reference emphasizes the flattery, but also points out that the superhero reference signifies the merging of two personalities into one person. This is more than gay attraction – it is love of oneself, each participating in the romance. Under normal circumstances, the physical bonding between two men would be benign. But, we already know Tom is deceptive and scheming. As Tom holds onto Dickie when riding on the latter’s scooter, Dickie complains, saying that Tom is breaking his ribs. This scene indicates Tom’s dangerous nature because of his obsessive urge to possess another, and is a foreshadowing of the end of the film.

Dickie begins to recognize Tom’s obsession with him while Dickie is taking a bath and Tom sits next to the tub. They observe that the two of them and Marge are only children, which Tom says that means that they have never shared a bath with anyone. Tom then asks if he can join Dickie in the tub. Dickie gives a look that shows how weird he thinks the request is before saying no. Tom then says he meant using the warm water after Dickie is finished, because he is cold. This statement almost symbolically implies the sharing of bodily fluids. Dickie then emerges from the water, naked, and again we have the mirror, with Tom looking at the reflection of the nude Dickie. By looking at Dickie, Tom is seeing his own sexuality reflected back to him, but even more, their separate persons are merging into one image. Dickie is not a fully formed individual himself, as he moves from place to place, from one musical instrument to another, and diverts his attention to various people. Dickie’s lack of a definite identity is symbolized in the scene where authorities question his ID, to which an official says that he doesn’t look like his picture. Thus, he is ripe for Tom to take possession of him.

The arrival of Dickie’s friend, Freddie Miles (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) threatens the bond with Tom. Freddie is a condescending, elitist young man, who immediately sees Tom as an unworthy invader into the privileged sphere. Freddie works it that only experienced skiers can go on their holiday, so Tom is excluded. He now occupies all of Dickie’s time, exiling Tom to lonely, solitary sightseeing, reverting him to outsider status. Dickie becomes more alienated from Tom when he comes home and sees Tom wearing his clothes, including his shoes, and dancing around the apartment. This scene follows the tub one, and Dickie finds Tom’s encroachment disturbing. He tells Tom to take off the clothes, but in another room, attempting to minimize any sexual situations between them.

 In the scene where Freddie joins Dickie, Marge, and Tom on a boating outing, Tom, sits alone, reading, as the other young men frolic in the sea. Freddie pretends to be drowning Dickie, who yells out as if being threatened. Marge observes, “Why is it when men play, they always play at killing each other.” This is a foreshadowing, because in Tom’s world, the subconscious desire to destroy becomes outwardly manifest. Later, in that same scene, Freddie pressure Dickie to come with him to Rome, where there are many women. He says this within earshot of Marge, who goes below. Freddie demonstrates the inconsiderate carelessness of the wealthy here. Dickie follows his girlfriend, saying he must do “Marge maintenance.” The two engage in sex, with Tom peering in disgust, wanting Dickie to himself, through an opening above. Freddie needles Tom, asking him “how’s the peeping, Tommy,” and repeats his name over and over, “Tommy, Tommy,” We have a Tommy, a Dickie, and a Freddie here, supposedly grown men on the outside, but acting like children, unconcerned about the effects their actions have on others as they satisfy their wants.

Dickie’s father writes to Tom to tell him that since he hasn’t been successful in getting his son to return to America, Greenleaf says he doesn’t require his services any longer. Dickie, becoming distanced from Tom anyway, now has the excuse that Tom no longer can pay his way. So, he tells Tom it’s best that they move on with their lives separately. But, he says they will have a final outing at a jazz festival in San Remo before saying goodbye. On the train to the town, the two share a car, and Dickie snoozes. Tom sees his reflection along with Dickie’s in the compartment’s window, and the two men look very similar, stressing the merging of their identities. Tom rests his head on Dickie’s shoulder. Dickie wakes up, and comments humorously that Tom is a bit “spooky.”

Dickie now sees right through Tom’s fakery. He calls him out about not having gone to Princeton, and how he only said he liked jazz to get close to Dickie. On a boat ride, Tom says he has a plan where he will return to Italy after he acquires enough funds, and they can be together again. He says that they are the brothers they never had, and he will get rid of the “Marge problem.” Dickie says he loves Marge and is going to marry her. Tom says that Dickie loves him, which Dickie laughingly denies. Tom then releases all of his venom, reminding Dickie of his cheating on Marge, and how he caused Silvana’s death. Dickie calls Tom a “third class mooch,” emphasizing his lowly socio-economic status, and calls him “creepy,” saying he doesn’t want to be in the boat with him. Tom explodes, hitting Dickie with an oar, and, after a struggle, kills him. Afterwards, he nestles next to his body, presenting an image of necrophilia. He weighs down the boat, and swims to the shore.

Back at the hotel, the concierge addresses Tom as Dickie, and from here on he leads a dissociative life, becoming Tom or Dickie depending on whom he is with. He tells Marge that Dickie abandoned them both, and left for Rome, providing a forged letter from Dickie to Marge backing up the story. He sends letters supposedly from a living Dickie to Tom. He alters Dickie’s passport and draws money from Dickie’s funds. He again encounters Meredith, who knows him as Dickie from their cruise. She says she ran into Freddie, who said he was with Marge. To solidify the story, he says he left Marge. Meredith is attracted to Tom/Dickie, and Tom forges ahead with Dickie’s lifestyle, having Meredith as his escort, as she picks out clothes for him, symbolically helping him become Dickie. 

The two attend an opera, which significantly is about a man who pretends to be someone he is not. There, Tom runs into Marge, who is with a friend, a musical conductor, Peter Smith-Kingsley (Jack Davenport). There is a spark of attraction between Tom and Peter, and one can’t help but think Tom sees Peter as a replacement for Dickie. His two identities are in danger of colliding, so Tom leaves the opera with Meredith. He says he can’t see her again, because she (another somewhat look-alike) reminds him of Marge. However, he says he will meet her the next day near the Spanish Steps at a café for a proper goodbye. Tom knows that Marge will be there, too, who shows ups with Peter. He stands up Meredith, who encounters Marge. Meredith substantiates that Dickie is there in Rome, and says that he still loves Marge. After Meredith leaves, Tom shows up as himself, and after he hears the story (which he has set up), he says, almost like an inside joke, that whenever Dickie does something wrong, he feels “guilty.”

 Freddie has been tracking down Dickie’s whereabouts, and shows up at the apartment in Rome. But, instead of finding his old friend, he sees Tom. He is suspicious immediately when Tom says that Dickie is having dinner at six in the evening, which is way too early. Tom looks like he is settled in there despite his saying he doesn’t live at the apartment. Freddie says the landlady said that Dickie was there now. As Tom talks, Freddie keeps hitting a piano key which is out of tune, indicating that Tom’s story doesn’t sound right. Tom is not wearing glasses, and has his hair swept back. Freddie, addressing Tom, says that the only thing there that looks like Dickie “is you.” Stating that Tom is a “quick study,” Freddie’s insight as to Tom’s attempt to replace Dickie is accurate. When Freddie leaves, he talks to the landlady who says Dickie plays the piano, which Freddie knows is not true. She then sees Tom on the upper landing and addresses him as Dickie. Freddie returns to the apartment. Bad move. Tom slams him over the head with a stone bust, killing him. IMDB says that the bust is of the Roman emperor Hadrian, whose gay lover was killed. An appropriate murder weapon for Tom, who did in his wished-for gay object of desire, Dickie. Always a wizard of manipulating what appears to be real, Tom pretends Freddie is drunk, and is helping him to his car. He even imitates Freddie’s voice, setting up the story that Freddie was alive when he left him. He dumps Freddie’s body in the woods next to his car. 

The police investigate the death, and question Tom as Dickie. He gets into a scooter accident, bruising his face, when he sees a man wearing a hat like the one Dickie wore. His smashing into mirrors along an antique row implies how he may be haunted by that part of himself that is now Dickie. He encounters Marge, who wonders if Dickie hurt Freddie. Tom says the bruise resulted from an argument with Dickie, as Tom creates a pattern of violence associated with Dickie. Marge says every time she looks for Dickie she finds Tom, an unknowingly accurate statement. The police, addressing Tom as Dickie, question what happened to Tom, who went missing when Dickie and Tom were in San Remo, and they found a weighed down boat. They think Dickie is the culprit – ironic, since it is Tom who is in front of them, and Dickie is the dead one. Anyway, they have two murders associated with Dickie.

Tom realizes he must rid himself of the Dickie persona, since he is a murder suspect. He forges a suicide note, which admits guilt about Silvana and Freddie. But the note goes on to say how Tom was the brother he never had, and is the type of son his father deserved. He also scratches out the picture in the passport, implying self-hatred, but really a ploy to prevent discovering Tom was impersonating Dickie. Tom travels to Venice, where he encounters Peter, whom he now latches on to. When Marge visits, she looks suspicious, saying, “I see you’ve found Peter,” seeing him as the next Dickie. She is suspicious of how he can afford such a nice place in Venice. She also discovers Dickie’s rings in Tom’s possession, jewelry she bought for Dickie, and which he swore he would never remove. She startles Tom, coming out of a bath when she makes the find and demands to know why he has Dickie’s rings. This shot in the bath reminds us of how Tom has replaced Dickie in the tub. But, when he goes to face Marge, Tom accidentally drops his towel, showing his nakedness, and metaphorically, revealing his true, duplicitous nature.

Mr. Greenleaf arrives in Venice with a private investigator. Marge says that Dickie wouldn’t have withdrawn money from the bank right before he is ready to kill himself. She suspects, rightly, that it was Tom accessing the funds before implicating Dickie as a killer and a victim of suicide. She says Tom now looks like someone who is “to the manor born,” as if he comes from the elite. But, she is really saying his rise was done through deceptive manipulation. However, Tom has plotted his scheme well, and gets lucky, too, as he learns from the investigator that he didn’t make up Dickie’s violent nature. He almost killed someone at Princeton, and his father got him off, allowing him to find refuge for a while in Italy. So, the story indicts more than just Tom. Based on the suicide note which contained Dickie’s endorsement of Tom, compliments of Tom himself, Greenleaf transfers Dickie’s trust to Tom. He now has truly replaced Dickie as his father’s son. When Marge leaves with Greenleaf, she attacks Tom near the pier, saying that she knows he is the killer.

Tom has now taken up with Peter. They embark on a cruise. He appears to want to come clean with Peter, wants to share true intimacy. But, Meredith is on the ship (there are a few too many coincidences here), with an entourage of family members. She knows Tom only as Dickie, and Peter knows him as Tom. He can’t kill Meredith, because she is not alone. Peter has seen him with Meredith, so he knows they will discover his secret once they talk to each other. He decides to do away with Peter, his possible soulmate, which makes the events even more tragic. We hear Peter, in bed, not involved in sex, but in the throes of death (the two were intermixed in Elizabethan poetry), saying how Tom is crushing him, reminiscent of what Dickie said when Tom squeezed too tightly on the scooter. Ripley’s embrace is more akin to a boa constrictor, than that of a lover.

The next film is The Insider.