For Tom, though, it's altogether different. His friendship with Dickie is a chance to have the brother he never had. He longs to have secrets that will just be theirs, anything to bond them together, anything that will enable Tom to feel like he has something with Dickie that no one else has. The line between gay and straight is a fine one. Dickie does this a lot, and he's always putting his arm around his male friends.
Physical affection is normal, and it means nothing.
Law plays the part well, walking perfectly the line between no-emotions machismo and honest sensitivity. This is Damon's movie all the way, and he performs brilliantly. His Tom Ripley is vulnerable and desperate without seeming so, a truly underplayed role that takes the audience through every nuance in his twisted little brain. His mannerisms make him just gay enough to pass for one without making mainstream audiences squirm. Indeed, though homosexuality is a theme in this movie, it is discreet.