Based on a novel by Patricia Highsmith (‘Purple Noon‘/’The Talented Mr. Ripley’), and directed by the screenwriter of Nicolas Winding Refn’s ‘Drive‘, not to mention, starring Kirsten Dunst and Viggo Mortensen in a Hitchcockian thriller set against the backdrop of Greece in the early 1960s- ‘The Two Faces of January’ is hands down one of our most anticipated films of 2014.
The ingredients are all there for a great film, and the reviews have been generous in its favour, so I guess we will just wait until it makes its way to this end of the world to enjoy all the intrigue and vintage fashion splendor.
1962 does good on them both, as both Viggo and Kirsten have never looked so good.
Every year the Cannes Film Festival whips around, you can guarantee to start feeling the summer start shining on in. Just picture the French Riviera, the movie stars, the palm fronds, and sail boats. Champagne in sandals . . . the works!
It’s like a nostalgia, really. I think everyone, once in their lives will make an appearance on that legendary red carpeted staircase. At least once in our many lives, I guarantee it.
Once again, the line-up of films is quite impressive, and the movie on everybody’s lips has got to be Sofia Coppola’s “The Bling Ring” which brings together Emma Watson, Taissa Farmiga, Katie Chang, Isreal Broussard as the real life clique of celebrity obsessed High Schoolers who made a splash in 2009 for their wild and childlike antics.
People want what they can’t have, and these kids just took it to the extreme in a whole new level. Its a lot about insecurity and acceptance, and if you get these things you might get the acceptance you are yearning for.
How could a bunch of teens possibly have the know-how to break into their most worshipped and idolized celebrities (names like Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, Audrey Patridge, and Orlando Bloom) and steal upwards of $3 million worth of clothes and jewelry ? Easy, really – Google. The film hopes to shed light on the perils of our society, who raise our bright and beautiful youth to become celebrity obsessed criminals. It’s all just a bit of fun, they think, until things get serious. . .
The film is getting a ton of praise for Sofia Copolla’s acute and withdrawn directing sensibilities, as well as its crisp cinematography by the late and legendary Harry Savides. However, this is not the only film to deal with the same startling themes.
Cannes Classics brings to light a much-too-forgotten gem of a film, 1960’s”Le Pleine Soleil” (or “Purple Noon“) directed by Renee Clement and starring original E.O.F. Style Idol himself, Alain Delon, in probably his most provocative and stylish role.
You know the story, already, I’m sure. The story of Tom Ripley – “The Talented Mr. Ripley”. It was only 14 years ago that Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Jude Law starred in the lead roles of this classic thriller. Published in 1955, and written by Patricia Highsmith, the story would be the first in a slew of novels starring the notorious anti-hero, Tom Ripley.
“Purple Noon” would be Delon’s first big starring role, and it is what he brings to the camera that makes his performance the most magical and mesmerizing take on Mr. Ripley’s misguided eccentricities.
The film was released to relatively positive reviews, mostly for Delon’s masterful acting, but disappointed for an abrupt ending caused by studio standards of the time who refused to see a villain get away with his crimes (which is where the 1999 film comes in and wins major points).
But, nevertheless, “Purple Noon” pays off with its on-point portrayal of the casual life, style, and luxury of the comfortably rich and famous. The menswear is sublime, and almost every shot is a tour-de-force of classic Mediterranean cool.
Tom Ripley is a chameleon of a man who begins to live the life of another more fabulous, and more wealthy man, and the best part is (for Ripley, least), this other man had a real knack for really great style. The rings, the loafers, the shirts, the jacket, the hair – it’s enough to make Daisy Buchanan break down in tears! How could he not want to take over this guy’s life?
This is the frightening paradox embedded within this maddeningly modern mystery.
“He loved possessions, not masses of them, but a select few that he did not part with. They gave a man self-respect. Not ostentation but quality, and the love that cherished the quality. Possessions reminded him that he existed, and made him enjoy his existence. It was as simple as that. And wasn’t that worth something? He existed. Not many people in the world knew how to, even if they had the money. It really didn’t take money, masses of money, it took a certain security.”
-Patricia Highsmith, “The Talented Mr. Ripley”
Take a look back and you can spot straight off the bat the timelessness of it all. It’s a film like “Purple Noon” that will stick in your memory forever, and become a staple repertoire of how you want to dress this summer: clean, cool, casual, and elegant. Those are just some keywords to keep in mind when venturing into these cool dark waters.
And even to a certain degree, become someone else if you have to. Moving through the streets with your cool clean shades on, feel the mystery embody you, and take to the streets like you’re about to buy them.
“Anticipation! It occurred to him that his anticipation was more pleasant to him than the experiencing.”
-Patricia Highsmith, “The Talented Mr. Ripley”
Moocher, Musician, Madman; Tom Ripley is an enigma in many respects, which makes him all the more powerful in his sinister quest. His behaviour can be criticised, but also, he can be completely understood.
Who doesn’t want that easy life? The life of luxury and ease that you read about in the magazines, filled with all those expensive clothes, and beautiful women. Think about if you had the chance to exchange your life for someone else’s. . . would you?
The teens that formed “The Bling Ring” would have to agree, and are a mighty monument to the same themes portrayed in “Purple Noon”.
Isn’t it scary to think that over 50 years later, the same anxieties that were fiction, have now come full circle and are as real as ever. Patricia Highsmith was definitely onto something, so if you want to get a head start on the entire thought process make sure to check out “Purple Noon” this summer, and maybe rock the Ripley edge (minus the murder).
The Festival de Cannes is upon us again, and if you were with us last year, we had a lot of fun covering the ups and downs of this iconic film and fashion event. After all, Cannes is a place where stars are born, and if you’re looking to get ahead of the game (any game, really) its best to stay up to date with all the festivities.
One moment an unknown is sky rocketed to unbelievable heights of stardom, fame, and critical acclaim for just one night at the star-studded gala that has been in existence since 1946.
This year promises to be as extravagant and elegant an affair as ever, with Baz Luhrmann’s epic telling of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” to open the competition. The film promises to bring back the Jazz Age with a roaring velocity only the 21st Century could handle.
Other notable candidates competing for the grand prize, the Palm D’Or, are Joel and Ethan Coen’s “Inside Llewellyn Davis” starring Justin Timberlake and Gatsby co-star Carey Mulligan, Takashi Miike’s “Straw Shield“, François Ozon’s “Young and Beautiful“, Alexander Payne’s “Nebraska“, Roman Polanski’s “Venus in Fur“, and our much-anticipated favourite “Only God Forgives” directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, which offers up a bad-ass vision of crime and the underworld set in the sweltering heat of Thailand and stars Ryan Gosling in the lead role (click here to watch trailer).
Also taking off at the festival is Sofia Coppola’s latest film on the scandal and psychology of “The Bling Ring” – the infamous crew of L.A. socialite-wannabes who took media outlets by storm after being caught in a string of celebrity burglaries. The film kicks off the Un Certain Regard category which also includes James Franco’s “As I Lay Dying“. Based off a novel by William Faulkner, the film is written, directed, and stars the offbeat actor, so hopefully people can start giving the guy a little more credit around these parts!
And if you’re not a fan of the contemporary film scene, not to worry, as the Cannes Film Festival line-up has built in dozens of classic films to showcase and celebrate at this year’s festival, showing that film past is just as powerful as film present, if not even more. After all, where would we be today without some of the great boundary-breaking films that got us here?
Elizabeth Taylor in “Cleopatra”
Bernardo Bertolucci’s “The Last Emperor”
Alain Delon as Tom Ripley in “La Plein Soleil”
These films are icons of style as well as cinema, and include in the line up Alain Resnais’s stunningly poetic “Hiroshima, Mon Amour” (starring “Amour”;s Emanuelle Riva), Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s elaborate and sumptuous “Cleopatra”, Jacques Demy’s charmingly whimsical “Les Parapluies de Cherbourg”, Jean Cocteau’s “La Belle et la Bette” , Bernardo Bertolucci’s vivid 80’s epic “The Last Emperor”, and the creme de la creme of vintage menswear movies “Le Plein Soleil”, starring E.O.F. Style Idol Alain Delon as Patricia Highsmith’s cunning antihero Tom Ripley in Renee Clement’s classic 1960 film.
Another of the classics they are bringing to the screen at this year’s festival is Alfred Hitchock’s 1958 masterpiece “Vertigo”. To celebrate the new restoration of the film, the festival has invited the film’s star, Kim Novak, as the guest of honour to the Festival.
The film was not well-recieved well at all in the US upon its release, and misunderstood it remained for many years before the French propped it up for discussion as proof of Alfred Hitchcock’s auteurism (a term for a true artist of the cinema), so its no surprise to see the film celebrated to this day for its subtle artistry in creating an unsettling dreamlike mood that permeates throughout the entire story of “Vertigo”.
Here I was born, and there I died. It was only a moment for you;
you took no notice.
-Madeleine, “Vertigo”
[POP CULTURE MOMENT: Do you remember hearing the “Vertigo” soundtrack at the beginning of Lady Gaga’s “Born this Way” music video? Listen back to the narrative opening of the full music video and you can hear “Vertigo” ‘s haunting theme . This theme is one of Bernard Hermann’s most iconic compositions, second maybe only to the blitzkrieg of strings in “Psycho”. Click here to see.]
It’s stylish, cool, classy, and the twist at the end is bloody brilliant. There might never be another movie like it. We suggest you rent this classic and make a night in watching this with a glass of vino and pretend you’re at Cannes, then dress up like Jimmy Stewart the morning after.
Check out the official website for the full details and for more information about the 2013 Fesbertival De Cannes. If you can’t be there this year, be sure to check back for more updates as they come!
Upon a recent viewing of “Rebel Without a Cause” it completely struck us at E.O.F. that there was a certain style divinity that doesn’t recieve enough attention for his incredible panache, and undoubted influence on men’s style and fashion. Call him France’s own James Dean– Alain Delon may just write the books on how to be a truly stylish and effortless specimen of a man.
In history, the legend of James Dean was born on the faithful day of September 30, 1955 causing an international frenzy- and in moments, an idol of rebellion and male beauty was born that seemingly grows stronger everyday. There is no doubt, the rebel icon has paved the way, but it is an individual like Alain Delon who triumphantly carried the torch onward. And while James Dean’s memory lives on, this week’s profiled style star literally lives.
It’s everything to do with everything; his French charm, a je na sais quois, that particular brand of swag and easiness the French seem to bring to anything. Whether dolled up in a suit, or stripped down to the bone, Delon delivers his unique brand of masculinity. Perhaps it’s all in the eyes. People always seem to look better smoking cigarettes.
Dean was an eagear student of Sade, as should be any fallen angel-boy, but it seems Delon took a more jovial path in life following more in the footsteps of Casanova! He worked the screen with leading ladies like Marianne Faithful, Jane Fonda, and Brigitte Bardot. Better than that, his real-life romances were with some of the world’s most gorgeous faces- Romy Schneider, Mirielle Darc, Rosalie Van Breeman, Nathalie Barthelemey, and a love-child with none other than Nico herself. Quite the busy boy.
Discharged from the navy in 1956, Delon would be discovered by legendary producer David. O. Selznick (Yes, of ‘Gone with the Wind’ lore) who would kick off his career provided he learn English. Delon would stay in France and in 1960 would star in a dandy adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’, in a French picture by the name of “Purple Noon”.
This film is one of the singularly most stylish films you might come across when it comes to men’s fashion. Delon’s Ripley is a tour-de-force in quiet angst and alienation, not to mention practically picture perfect, and would pave his way in the limelight as one of the world’s most enigmatic and dashing leading gentlemen.
The dapper Delon would continue to grace the screen in other groundbreaking and style-wise pictures as Luchino Visconti’s “The Leopard”, Michelangelo Antonionni’s “Eclipse”, Jack Cardiff’s “The Girl on a Motorcylce”, Jacques Daray’s “Le Piscine”, Louis Malles’ , Roger Vadim’s, & Fellini’s “Spirits of the Dead”, and of course, the ultimate embodiment of loner, drifter, outsiderness in Jean-Pierre Melville’s “Le Samourai”, a dark crime film fusing film noir with samurai and fantasy notions. Each film is rich in style inspiration and fashion and film history.
Delon was an instant smash and a puller of all heart strings. With his dashing looks, and unapolgetic demeanour, his rebel attitude gave French luxury a brand new flavour, as well as giving us here at the EOF plenty of amazing pictures to share with you! Use these as inspiration for a lifetime.
Keep it classic, keep it fresh, and keep it fun inside. Adapt a closet full of leisure, that make you feel comfortable, while at the same time easily make you the Prince of the Party. The secret to Delon’s success really lies deep within his own core. An unwillingness to be anything but true to himself. That is ultimately what reads through most, and is an important lesson to being the ultimate you.
So rent all his movies today, and show the world how dashing, dapper, and ultimately divine a bad boy can really be! As an E.O.F. Style Idol, Alain Delon’s timeless style is definitely here to stay.
Here’s some stuff from {THE EYE OF FAITH SHOP} so you grab the vibe!
