Ripley's Game (film)

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Movie
German title Ripley's Game
Original title Ripley's Game /
Il Gioco di Ripley
Country of production Great Britain , Italy , USA , Germany
original language English , German , Italian
Publishing year 2002
length 110 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Liliana Cavani
script Liliana Cavani
Charles McKeown
production Simon Bosanquet
Ileen Maisel
Riccardo Tozzi
music Ennio Morricone
camera Alfio Contini
cut Jon Harris
occupation
synchronization

Ripley's Game is an Italian - British - American - German thriller by Liliana Cavani from 2002. It is based on the novel of the same name by Patricia Highsmith from 1974.

action

The cynical crook Tom Ripley wants to sell fake drawings by great painters to a German art dealer in Berlin . Since he asks more money than the art dealer wants to give him, a dispute ensues. Ripley unceremoniously kills the dealer's assistant and leaves the house with the drawings and $ 1.2 million. He hands Reeves, a British gangster, the suitcase with the money and declares their partnership over.

Three years later: Ripley lives with his wife Luisa, a harpsichordist , in a luxurious villa in Veneto , Italy. One day, his neighbor from Great Britain, Jonathan Trevanny, invites him to his birthday. At the party, Ripley overhears Trevanny describing him to his guests as an over-rich American with bad taste. Ripley returns home offended, where he meets Reeves. He asks him to help him kill a competitor from the ranks of the Russian mafia. Ripley suggests getting Trevanny to carry out the murder. Trevanny initially considers Reeves' offer to kill a man in Berlin for $ 50,000 to be a joke. But Reeves doesn’t give up and finally offers him $ 100,000 for the job. In addition, Trevanny, who suffers from leukemia and does not have long to live, is to receive treatment from a renowned doctor in Berlin. Since his business, in which he sells picture frames, is not doing well and he urgently needs the money to make ends meet for himself, his wife Sarah and son Matthew, Trevanny finally agrees.

In Berlin, Trevanny first seeks the doctor, who, like the Italian doctors, tells him that there is no longer any hope for him. He then lets Reeves instruct him on how to carry out the murder. In the zoo, which the Mafioso visits regularly, Trevanny puts the plan into action and shoots the Russian. Back at his house in Italy, he hides the money he received in the kitchen. His wife Sarah is happy about his return and they spend a passionate night together, as they have not for a long time. The next day, Reeves suggests a new assignment to Trevanny. Trevanny refuses, whereupon Reeves threatens to harm his family. Inevitably, Trevanny tells his wife that he has to go back to Berlin to test a new drug. A medical research foundation had offered him money to buy a new car. Ripley, however, is against Trevanny committing another murder. But this is already on the way. On the train from Berlin to Düsseldorf , Trevanny is supposed to strangle a Ukrainian mafia boss with a metal noose. When, fearing for his wife and son, he prepares to hunt down the mafia boss in the train toilet, he prefers to use the pistol because he does not trust himself to strangle. Surprised, however, he holds the pistol in front of Ripley's nose, who then kills the mafia boss and a German bodyguard with the metal noose in his place. Trevanny shoots another bodyguard with the pistol. Ripley and Trevanny return to Italy together. There Sarah, who has since found the money under the sink, confronts her husband. However, Trevanny refuses to tell her the truth.

After learning that the bodyguard he shot is still alive, Trevanny turns to Ripley with concern. In the meantime, Reeves is located in Berlin by this bodyguard and other men, but can barely escape them. Fearing for his life, he seeks refuge with Ripley. However, the latter refuses to take him into his villa. Sure that Reeves brought the killers to him, Ripley sends his wife Luisa and his cook away over the weekend. Trevanny, in turn, insists on waiting with him in the villa for the killers. When the killers arrive, Ripley kills one of them with a wrench. The bodyguard, who has since been incapacitated by two animal traps in Ripley's villa, is forced by Ripley to call his client and tell him that Ripley and Trevanny had nothing to do with the murder on the train, but that he killed them anyway . Then Ripley and Trevanny shoot the bodyguard. Sarah, who had called earlier, arrives unexpectedly and sees Trevanny and Ripley in front of the bodyguard's body. She runs away disturbed.

After discovering Reeves' body in the killer’s car and removing all the bodies, Ripley drives the nervously exhausted Trevanny home. Trevanny is lurking there by two other killers. They have Sarah in their power and threaten to kill her and Trevanny. Ripley, however, appears and shoots down both killers. One of the killers can fire another shot at Ripley. Trevanny throws herself protectively in front of Ripley and is fatally hit by the bullet. When Ripley explains to the crying Sarah what to say to the police and gives her the money from Trevanny's assignment, she spits in his face in disgust. Ripley eventually leaves the house and rushes to his wife's concert. Luisa sits down in front of her harpsichord and starts playing when she spots Ripley in the audience.

background

The Villa Emo, Ripley's home in the film

The novel Ripley's Game was filmed in 1977 under the title The American Friend by Wim Wenders . The production of the thriller of 2002 cost an estimated 30 million US dollars . The shooting took place in Germany and Italy. In Berlin, the film was shot at the Gendarmenmarkt , in the Aquarium of the Zoological Garden and in the Monbijoupark . Italian locations were Asolo and the local Caffe Centrale, the Cinecittà studios in Rome , Padua , the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza and the Villa Emo in Fanzolo di Vedelago .

The film premiered on September 2, 2002 at the Venice International Film Festival . In Germany it was shown for the first time on August 20, 2003 at the Fantasy Film Festival in Hamburg . It was released on DVD on June 8, 2004.

Reviews

For the lexicon of international film , Ripley's Game was a "convincing film adaptation of the eponymous thriller by Patricia Highsmith". It is a “only at first glance conventional staging”. This is "full of finesse" and is "carried by convincing actors". Cinema drew a similar conclusion: "Perfidious game with a great cast."

For Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times , Ripley's Game was "without a doubt the best" of the four Tom Ripley films, including Only the Sun Was Witness (1960), The American Friend (1977) and The Talented Mr. Ripley ( 1999) that he saw. John Malkovich is also "exactly the Tom Ripley" he imagined "when [he] read the novels". By objectifying his actions, "Malkovich's philosophical Ripley" is "closest" to the character created by Highsmith. Malkovich simply has one of his "most brilliant and devious appearances" in the film. "If anyone was born to play Tom Ripley, it was John Malkovich," said David Rooney of Variety . “Malkovich's elegantly malicious vision” gives the film “a magnetic center”, which is complemented by “Liliana Cavani's efficient direction and the pleasant retro look”.

Peter Bradshaw of the Guardian, however, found the film to be "entertaining and ridiculous" at an inconvenient one-to-three ratio. Not even John Malkovich with his "bizarre bonmots and threats" is able to compensate for "the slapstick and the forced cosmopolitanism" that "make up the essence of this very strange thriller".

Awards

In 2003 the thriller was nominated for the Nastro d'Argento in the categories of Best Producer and Best Production Design (Francesco Frigeri) . In 2005 he was also nominated for the Saturn Award in the category Best DVD Release.

German version

The German dubbing was done by Film- & Fernseh-Synchron (FFS) in Berlin. Dorothe Muschter wrote the dialogue book, and Frank Glaubrecht directed the dialogue .

role actor Voice actor
Tom Ripley John Malkovich Joachim Tennstedt
Jonathan Trevanny Dougray Scott Benjamin Völz
Reeves Ray Winstone Roland Hemmo
Sarah Trevanny Lena Headey Nana Spier
Luisa Harari Chiara Caselli Dorette Hugo
Art dealer Hanns Zischler Hanns Zischler
Maria Evelina Meghnagi Iris Artajo
serious Lutz winds Lutz winds
Dr. Wentzel Nikolaus Dutsch Bodo Wolf (voice actor)

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Production costs on imdb.com
  2. ^ Ripley's Game. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  3. ↑ Ripley's Game on cinema.de
  4. ^ " Ripley's Game is without question the best of the four, and John Malkovich is precisely the Tom Ripley I imagine when I read the novels. [...] Malkovich's philosophical Ripley is closest to Highsmith's character in the way he objectifies his actions. [...] one of Malkovich's most brilliant and insidious performances. " Roger Ebert : Ripley's Game . In: Chicago Sun-Times , April 9, 2006.
  5. ↑ “If anyone was born to play Tom Ripley, it's John Malkovich […]. Malkovich's elegantly malicious performance gives Ripley's Game a magnetic center, complemented by Liliana Cavani's efficient direction and an enjoyable retro feel […]. ” David Rooney: Ripley's Game . In: Variety , September 3, 2002.
  6. ↑ “Here is a film that manages to be enjoyable and ridiculous in a ratio of about one to three: a mix which isn't quite right. [...] and not even John Malkovich's bizarre bon mots and threats can quite make up for the slapstick and forced urbanity that make up the substance of this deeply strange thriller. " Peter Bradshaw: Ripley's Game . In: The Guardian , May 30, 2003.
  7. ^ Ripley's Game. In: synchronkartei.de. German dubbing file , accessed on March 2, 2017 .