BD/DVD Release Date:
9th September 2013 (UK)
Rating:
PG
Distributor:
Studiocanal UK
Director:
René Clément
Cast:
Alain Delon, Maurice Ronet, Marie Laforêt
Buy Plein Soleil:
Plein Soleil Special Edition Blu-ray [Amazon]
As I was introduced to French cinema through my interest in the Nouvelle Vague films of Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, Jacques Rivette, and Éric Rohmer, and consequently their critical writing for the influential film journal Cahiers du Cinéma (in particular Truffaut’s Une Certaine Tendance du Cinéma Français), it may come as no surprise that René Clément has never ranked high on my list of filmmakers to further explore. Couple this with already seeing Patricia Highsmith’s best-selling novel, The Talented Mr. Ripley, adapted to film by Anthony Minghella and the prospect of sitting through Plein Soleil becomes less intriguing.
First of all – for those of you who have neither read Highsmith’s novel nor watched Minghella’s adaptation – a brief outline of the story is in order. The Talented Mr. Ripley is a thriller that, in all its versions including Clément’s Plein Soleil, follows Tom Ripley, an intelligent career criminal, as he cons his way into the life of a rich playboy, Philippe, by feigning his acquaintance to the man’s father. Ripley is hired by the father to travel to Italy, find Philippe, and bring him back to San Francisco. Now, without wanting to give away any of the film’s plot, Plein Soleil begins with Ripley (Alain Delon) already in Italy and already ingratiated with Philippe (Maurice Ronet) and his circle of friends.
For many, including myself, Clément’s version is the most rewarding. Not only is it the most tense and entertaining of the two adaptations, it also boasts some glorious cinematography by Henri Decaë, the noted cinematographer of such films as Lift to the Scaffold, Bob le Flambeur, Le Beau Serge, and The 400 Blows by directors Louis Malle, Jean-Pierre Melville, Claude Chabrol, and François Truffaut. The film is also noteworthy for its fatalistic point of view. But it is also these two points that mark the film out as an imitation.
As the featurette René Clément at the heart of the New Wave, included with Studiocanal’s restored release, attests, Clément felt unfairly treated by the Nouvelle Vague directors and thought himself a more avant-garde artist than the “Tradition of Quality” directors he had been lumped with. Perhaps this is why he made Plein Soleil with Decaë and also why the film as a fatalistic aesthetic reminiscent of Jean-Pierre Melville, a director admired by the Nouvelle Vague. Nonetheless, Plein Soleil is an entertaining and gorgeously photographed film well worthy of anyone’s time.
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