Only the sun was witness
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Only the sun was witness |
| Original title | Plein soleil |
| Country of production | France / Italy |
| original language |
French Italian |
| Publishing year | 1960 |
| length | 112 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | René Clément |
| script | René Clément Paul Gégauff |
| production |
Raymond Hakim Robert Hakim |
| music | Nino Rota |
| camera | Henri Decaë |
| cut | Françoise Javet |
| occupation | |
| |
Only the sun was witness (original title: Plein soleil ) is a French - Italian crime film by René Clément from 1960 . The film is based on the novel The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith .
The young American Tom Ripley murders the millionaire son Philippe Greenleaf, who lives in Italy, and takes on his identity in order to get his fortune.
plot
Philippe Greenleaf is the son of a millionaire and lives in Italy with his girlfriend Marge. In tow he has his compatriot Tom Ripley, whom Philippe's father has hired for a success fee of 5,000 US dollars to persuade Philippe to return to San Francisco . Philippe, who makes Marge and Ripley the plaything of his whims, does not think about returning. Ripley takes a liking to Philippe's lifestyle and decides to kill him. After a quarrel staged by Ripley between Philippe and Marge during a boat trip, Marge goes back to shore, only the two men remain on board. Ripley stabs Philippe, throws the dead body overboard and takes on Philippe's identity. In a letter drawn up under Philippe's name, he tells Marge the end of their relationship. When Philippe's friend Freddy Miles happens to be on his trail, he kills him too. As a result, the police suspect Philippe of the murder of Freddy Miles. Ripley decides to reappear under his own name, fakes Philippe's suicide and uses Marge as his heir in a forged will. The will is recognized by Philippe's father. Ripley is successfully courting Margin to continue enjoying Philippe's fortune. He seems to have reached his goal, but when Philippe's boat is sold, his body is discovered - the rope with which it was wrapped was caught in the propeller. Ripley is convicted.
background
The shooting took place on the island of Ischia (Ischia Ponte, Ischia Porto and Palazzo D 'Ambra), Procida as well as in Naples and Rome . The film started on March 10, 1960 in France and ran on September 16 of the same year in Germany . Marge, the name of Philippe's girlfriend, has been changed to Margit in the German dubbed version.
In 1961, the novel The Talented Mr. Ripley , published in the USA in 1955, appeared for the first time in German under the same title as the film, Nur die Sonne was Zeuge , later, in new editions, as Der Talented Mr. Ripley . Unlike in the novel, in which the amoral hero Tom Ripley escapes with impunity, Ripley is convicted in the film of the murder of Philippe (in the book: Dickie) Greenleaf. The film also dispensed with the openly homoerotic allusions in the book. Highsmith was positive about the casting of the main role with Alain Delon , but at the same time expressed her displeasure with the changed, moralizing ending.
Romy Schneider - who was in a relationship with Delon at the time - made a cameo as the companion of Freddy Miles at the beginning of the film , but is not mentioned in the titles . Director Clement also took on a small guest role as a servant.
In 1999, Anthony Minghella made a remake of the novel under the book title The Talented Mr. Ripley .
synchronization
The German dubbed version was created in 1960 by Deutsche Mondial.
| role | actor | German Dubbing voice |
|---|---|---|
| Tom Ripley | Alain Delon | Harald Leipnitz |
| Philippe Greenleaf | Maurice Ronet | Niels Clausnitzer |
| Marge ("Margit") Duval | Marie Laforêt | Margot Leonard |
| Inspector Riccordi | Erno Crisa | Klaus Schwarzkopf |
| Freddy Miles | Billy Kearns | Klaus Havenstein |
| O'Brien | Frank Latimore | Christian Marshal |
| Boris | Nicholas Petrov | Werner Uschkurat |
| Ship broker | Nerio Bernardi | Ernst Constantine |
| Lady from Belgium | Viviane Chantel | Eva Pflug |
criticism
At Rotten Tomatoes , 35 of 37 reviews for the film are positive, giving it a rating of 95%.
“René Clément subjected the story of the almost perfect murder to a truly sophisticated economy of tempo and meticulously precise scene construction. A crime film of exciting sophistication. "
Patricia Highsmith described the performance of Alain Delon as "excellent", the film was "very nice to the eye and interesting for the intellect". But Highsmith criticized the end of the film, which horribly followed public morality that the criminal must always be captured. In Highsmith's novel, Tom Ripley gets away with his crimes at the end, in the film his arrest is hinted at.
Award
The film won the Edgar Award for Best Foreign Film in 1962 .
German video publications
The film has already appeared in several DVD editions: by Arthaus (2000, 2013, 2015), as issue No. 36 of the SZ-Cinemathek (2005), in the Double Up Collection (2015) and in the Alain Delon Edition Vol. 1 (2012). It appeared on Blu-ray in two Arthaus editions in 2013 and 2015.
Web links
- Purple Noon in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Only the sun was a witness in the German dubbing file
- Pictures of the film on cinema.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Only the sun was witnessed in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- ↑ Andrew Wilson: Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith, Bloomsbury, London 2003; German Beautiful shade. The life of Patricia Highsmith, Berlin Verlag, Berlin 2003.
- ↑ Gereon Stein: Only the sun was a witness on synchrondatenbank.de. Retrieved May 27, 2019 .
- ↑ Only the sun was witness to Rotten Tomatoes (English)
- ↑ Only the sun was a witness in the lexicon of international films .
- ↑ Interview with Patricia Highsmith
- ^ Article in the Telegraph
- ^ Article in the Telegraph
- ↑ IMDb Awards