Purple Noon
Purple Noon • 1h 57m
Directed by René Clément • 1960 • France, Italy
Starring Alain Delon, Maurice Ronet, Marie Laforêt
Alain Delon was at his most impossibly beautiful when PURPLE NOON was released and made him an instant star. This ripe, colorful adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s vicious novel “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” directed by the versatile René Clément, stars Delon as Tom Ripley, a duplicitous American charmer in Rome on a mission to bring his privileged, devil-may-care acquaintance Philippe Greenleaf (Maurice Ronet) back to the United States. What initially seems a carefree tale of friendship soon morphs into a thrilling saga of seduction, identity theft, and murder. Featuring gorgeous location photography of coastal Italy, PURPLE NOON is crafted with a light touch that allows it to be at once suspenseful and erotic, and it gave Delon the role of a lifetime.
Up Next in Purple Noon
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Spotlight on PURPLE NOON with Imogen ...
In the following introduction recorded in 2021, critic Imogen Sara Smith explores the seductive charm and subtle menace of René Clément’s gorgeous Patricia Highsmith adaptation, starring Alain Delon in his breakout role as the duplicitous Tom Ripley.
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Denitza Bantcheva on PURPLE NOON
This interview with film historian and author Denitza Bantcheva was conducted at the Chez Justine Café in Paris in August 2012.
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“Cinépanorama”: Alain Delon, 1962
This interview with actor Alain Delon, conducted and directed by François Chalais, first aired on the French television program “Cinépanorama” on November 24, 1962. Delon discusses working with director René Clément, with whom he would make four films: PURPLE NOON (1960), THE JOY OF LIVING (1961)...
