James Berardinelli rated '' Purple Noon '' higher than '' The Talented Mr. Ripley '' , giving it a four-star review ( compared to two and a half stars for '' The Talented Mr. Ripley '' ) Berardinelli praised Delon 's acting , saying that " Tom is fascinating because Delon makes him so " and also complimented the film for " expert camerawork and crisp direction . " Berardinelli placed '' Purple Noon '' on his All-Time 100 list and compared it to the 1999 film : " The remake went back to the source material , Patricia Highsmith 's '' The Talented Mr. Ripley '' . The result , while arguably truer to the events of Highsmith 's book , is vastly inferior . To say it suffers by comparison to '' Purple Noon '' is an understatement . Almost every aspect of Rene Clement 's 1960 motion picture is superior to that of Minghella 's 1999 version , from the cinematography to the acting to the screenplay . Matt Damon might make a credible Tom Ripley but only for those who never experienced Alain Delon 's portrayal . " Nandini Ramnath wrote for Scroll.in , " The definitive portrayal of crime novelist Patricia Highsmith 's most enduring creation was as early as 1960 . Damon and Hopper come close to conveying the ruthlessness and ambition of Tom Ripley , but Delon effortless captures his mystique . " Highsmith 's opinion of the film was mixed . She felt that Alain Delon was " excellent " in the role of Tom Ripley and described the film overall as " very beautiful to the eye and interesting for the intellect " , but criticized the ending in which it is implied that Ripley is to be caught by the police : " I t was a terrible concession to so-called public morality that the criminal had to be caught . " In 2012 StudioCanal funded a restoration of the movie by the laboratory , a restoration being all the more warranted as part of the film 's atmosphere is due to the sun-drenched scenes mentioned in the film 's original title . The restored version was to be shown at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival as part of an homage to Delon 's career , prior to re-release in France at least
2013 Cannes Film Festival
2013 Cannes Film Festival
Purple Noon