MovieChat Forums > The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) Discussion > Ripley fooling Meredith

Ripley fooling Meredith

posted 8 years ago by jradz-90115
6 replies | jump to latest

Just watched this for the umpteenth time - love the movie, but one thing always bothered me: How did Tom continue to convince Meredith he was Dickie? The Freddie Miles murder case was a big deal seemingly - wouldn't a photo of Dickie have run in the papers? And if they ran a photo of Tom as Dickie, wouldn't Marge or someone else have spotted it?

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] vestdennis 8 years ago

I'm figuring they ran old photos of Dickie in news accounts but yes, I've wondered that too. But remember this was set in the 1950s so the media, especially foreign press might not cover this case like they would today.

[–] criztu 8 years ago

I'm figuring they ran old photos of Dickie in news accounts but yes, I've wondered that too.

I propose you a different way of looking at this film. Look at it as a metaphor. What it is shown on film, stands for something that can't be shown: eg. how do you "show" how love looks like? You draw a heart? That is love, something in the shape of a heart that doesn't even look like a heart, but more like a butt?

The question of "how did they not recognize Dickie in the photos", is solved also in the movie Gattaca - where Jude Law plays another high class dude, and when a police dude questions his identity, he questions the police dude's authority.
That is, nobody really questions a member of the high class.

So, in Dickie's passport photo case, society doesn't see the man, it sees the social status: name and credit card.
So, when Tom takes Dickie's place, society doesn't see Tom, it sees the name and credit card.

You would probably react in the same way, towards let's say, a member of the Rockefeller family or Hilton family. You wouldn't know them by face - except for Paris Hilton, you would only recognize the name.

Unless you know them personally, like Freddie knew Dickie, nobody gives a schplork about who Dickie is, as long as the credit card and the id appear to be valid.

[–] Quicksilver1900 8 years ago

I don't think so. All the Anglophone expats including Meredith would have eventually seen the New York Herald Tribune, which would have run the story with a picture of Dickie.

[–] criztu 8 years ago

I'm trying to say that people see the social status, not the real person behind the social status. This is the metaphor.

Think of Dickie's father, as he talked to Tom about his disappearance. He knew something is wrong, but he wasn't interested in Dickie as a human being. He was interested in Dickie only in terms of how much money and reputation he costs him.
I tell you: Dickie's father realized he's dead, and he was OK with that.

[–] gluserty (605) 7 years ago

Yeah, sort of like in "American Psycho": the public at large sees all these successful & wealthy people as interchangeable, so they don't real zero in on their distinct characteristics.