Product: The American Friend [VHS] (1977)
Rating: 5.0
" nothing to fear but fear itself"
This is not a film of Highsmith's book,Ripley's Game,for that you need to go to the later version with Malkovitch as Ripley.This is inspired by that book,creating it's atmosphere and characterisation with a shift into the central consciousness of professional framemaker Jonathan(Bruno Ganz),who is the heart and soul of the film,away from Ripley(Hopper) who merely pulls the strings.This film is predominantly set in Europe,with an American unifying aesthetic.Jonathan has been diagnosed with terminal leukaemia and following a chance encounter with the enigmatic Ripley he finds a way to ensure a stable future for his family. Ganz suggests the internal conflict with his moral beliefs and loving family outlook.He is lured in by the bait Raul Pinot (Blain) offers him :new tests in the American Hospital in Paris by a top specialist. Ripley has been the catalyst for this new adventurous, amoral life,following a slight he receives from Zimmerman.Ripley is a loner cowboy adrift in Hamburg,consumed with existential angst. He is drawn towards Zimmerman's hard-working honesty and warm family home. In an early scene Ripley records his thoughts in a taped diary:"There is nothing to fear but fear itself...I know less and less about who I am or who anybody else is".Hopper has never been better or more restrained and calm.There are two marvellous set-pieces set on trains.The first thriller sequence is in a subway station depicting Jonathan's inept murder of an underworld figure. The second set on a moving train where he is joined surprisingly by Ripley, is worthy of Hitchcock. There is a lot of physical force and suspense,the use of garrotting and bodies pushed out of trains. There is a lot of black humour in a scene with tickets.Also there is a homage to American film noir (cf two directors,Ray and Fuller cast as conmen and criminals),also the role of Ripley as a sleazy conman with mob connections.Ripley shows his humanity by wanting to be Jonathan's `American friend'.There is great chemistry between the two leads.What is stressed is everybody's moral ambivalence. The truly interesting expressionist quality of the cinematography,unusual use of colour and lighting,with cityscapes bathed in dark blues and dark greens and a somewhat faded background palette overlaid with strikingly bright and saturated primary colours for particular objects or costumes.There is the influence of Edward Hopper on the framing and camera angles,with Knieper's brooding score to suggest the intensity and danger round every corner of the seedy industrial backlots of Hamburg.There are a lot of motifs centred around picture slides and moving pictures which figure in gift exchange between the `friends' His wife Erica(excellent Kreuzer) is aware Jonathan is not giving her the whole picture:"I don't even want to know what you do with your American friend".The corruptive influence of American movies is a major theme. This will be seen as one of Wender's major films with Alice in the Cities and Kings of the Road.