The author of the celebrated lesbian novel adapted in the 2015 film “Carol” and the creator of the sociopathic serial killer and frequent film character Tom Ripley, Texas-born Patricia Highsmith is now the subject of the fine documentary “Loving Highsmith.”
Written and directed by Swiss filmmaker Eva Vitija, the film is being accompanied by a “Highsmith on Screen” series at some venues. Such a series might include Alfred Hitchcock’s “Strangers on a Train,” a 1951 adaptation of Highsmith’s first novel; Rene Clement’s justly legendary “Purple Noon” (1960), with a young Alain Delon in a star-making turn as Ripley; Wim Wenders’ “The American Friend,” a 1977 breakout effort with Dennis Hopper as Ripley; “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” a 1999 adaptation with Matt Damon in the title role; and Liliana Cavani’s underrated 2002 effort “Ripley’s Game” with a great title turn by John Malkovich.
Director Vitija quotes from Highsmith’s 8,000 pages of notebooks and diaries (the narrator’s voice is the English actor Gwendoline Christie), and shows us excerpts of filmed interviews with the notably feline Highsmith, whose hairstyle remains the same throughout her adulthood. Vitija explores Highsmith’s sexuality, which made her an outsider in 1940s and ’50s America. One of the on-camera lovers is Marijane Meaker, an American writer who wrote lesbian novels using pseudonyms and tells us of introducing Highsmith to Greenwich Village lesbian bars. Highsmith had a difficult relationship with her mother, who did not reciprocate her daughter’s love.
