Carol was one of the most acclaimed films of 2015 and was the latest of Patricia Highsmith's novels to be adapted for the big screen.
Cate Blanchett in Carol
The movie, which was directed by Todd Haynes and starred Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara - who were both Oscar nominated for their performances - won over critics and audiences and has now been released on DVD & Blu-ray.
To celebrate the release of Carol, we take a look at the top five adaptation of Patricia Highsmith novels.
- Carol (2015)
As we are celebrating the release of Carol, this latest Highsmith adaptation seems like the perfect place to start. The movie is based on the novel The Price of Salt and was adapted for the big screen by Phyllis Nagy.
The movie marked the return of Haynes to the director's chair for his first feature since I'm Not There, while Blanchett and Mara joined forces for the first time. Sarah Paulson and Kyle Chandler completed a great and very talented cast list.
A young woman in her 20s, Therese Belivet (Mara) is a clerk working in a Manhattan department store and dreaming of a more fulfilling life when she meets Carol (Blanchett), an alluring woman trapped in a loveless, convenient marriage. As an immediate connection sparks between them, the innocence of their first encounter dims and their connection deepens.
While Carol breaks free from the confines of marriage, her husband (Chandler) threatens her competence as a mother when Carol's involvement with Therese and close relationship with her best friend Abby (Paulson) comes to light. As Carol leaves the comfort of home to travel with Therese, an internal journey of self-discovery coincides with her new sense of space.
This is a movie that draws you in and will touch your heart and your soul. This may be a story that is set decades ago, but it is a story that will resonate with audiences and is very much in the here and now. Haynes has crafted a truly magnificent movie that will stay with you long after the credits have rolled. He has captured the look and the feel of the period wonderfully - it is a truly stylish looking film from start to finish.
The movie was tipped as an early Oscar contender and went on to pick up six nominations, including Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress for Blanchett and Mara. However, the film was overlooked for Best Picture.
- The Two Faces of January (2014)
The Two Faces of January was a novel that was released back in 1964 but was only adapted for the big screen two years ago.
The movie marked the feature film directorial debut for Hossein Amini. He was best known for penning scripts for Jude, The Four Feathers, and Drive before making the leap into filmmaking. As well as being in the director's chair, Amini also penned the film's screenplay.
Starring Viggo Mortensen, Kirsten Dunst, and Oscar Isaac, the movie is set in 1962 and followed American couple Chester MacFarland (Mortensen) and his younger wife Collette (Dunst) as they holiday in Athens.
While sightseeing at the Acropolis they encounter Rydal (Oscar Isaac), a young, Greek-speaking American who is working as a tour guide. Drawn to Colette's beauty and impressed by Chester's wealth and sophistication, Rydal gladly accepts their invitation to dinner. However, all is not as it seems with the MacFarlands, Chester's affable exterior hides darker secrets. As events take a sinister turn, Rydal finds himself compromised and entangled as an accomplice to a crime committed by Chester.
Amini may have established himself as a great writer, but with The Two Faces of January, he shows that he is also terrific with a camera and with actors. There is a suspense that hangs over the whole film, and Amini ratchets up that tension well with every moments and scene.
Throw in some rather exotic locations, and The Two Faces of January is rich and packed with flavour and intrigue. The has some wonderfully complex characters and sees Mortensen, Dunst, and Isaac all deliver fine performances in a tense psychological thriller.
- Strangers on a Train (1951)
Strangers on a Train was Highsmith's first novel and was the first of her books to be adapted into a movie... by Alfred Hitchcock nonetheless in 1951.
Strangers on a Train came after the success of Notorious but before the director enjoyed acclaim with Dial M For Murder, Rear Window, Vertigo, and Psycho. Raymond Chandler, Whitfield Cook, and Czenzi Ormonde penned the screenplay.
The film famously follows two men, a tennis player named Guy (Farley Granger) and an endearing psychopath named Bruno (Robert Walker) as they conspire, after meeting for the first time on a train, to kill someone in the others life so they can't be implicated in the respective crime.
Of course, when a book is adapted into a screenplay some there are some differences but Hitchcock really did capture the tension and the suspense of Highsmith's novel.
Strangers on a Train is up there as one of Hitchcock's best films as he delivers a movie that is as intriguing as it is entertaining. Highsmith's psychological thriller style of writing could not have found a better filmmaker to adapt it for the big screen.
- Purple Noon (1960)
Purple Noon hit the big screen back in 1960 and is the first adaptation of Highsmith's novel The Talented Mr. Ripley, which was released five years earlier.
Directed by René Clément, Purple Noon saw Alain Delon in his first major film role as he took on the part of American Tom Ripley. Maurice Ronet and Marie Laforet were also on the cast list.
The action is largely focussed on a boat and follows Tom Ripley (Delon) and his two companions, Phillippe Greenleaf (Ronet) and Marge (Laforet). Like the book, Ripley steals his friends life, then uses his good looks and charm to get by. However, the ending was changed as warranted by the censors at the time which demanded that he be punished for his criminal deeds.
Purple Noon does deviate more from the book than the 1999 version but it is still a terrific watch - even if it is a film that has been forgotten about over the years.
Despite this being his first major film role, Delon really does steal the show as Ripley. He perfectly balances the intelligent and charming aspects of his character with the cruel nature that lies beneath the surface.
Purple Noon is the movie for while director Clement is remembered and is widely regarded as the French Hitchcock.
- The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
It was in 1999 when The Talented Mr. Ripley returned to the big screen, this time with Anthony Minghella at the helm.
The Talented Mr. Ripley was the first feature for Minghella since the success of The English Patient; he penned the screenplay as well as being in the director's chair.
This time around, Matt Damon took on the title role and was joined on the cast list by Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Cate Blanchett, and Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Here, Tom is a talented forget recruited by Greenleaf's father to bring his son home, but instead falls in love with him. More troubled socially than controlling sociopath, Ripley is much more sympathetic here, even lonely as he winds up lashing out in passion and uses his talents to evade punishment, while stealing the life he so loved and envied.
Much more in line with Highsmith's complicated sexual subtexts, as also seen in Carol, than its predecessor, the film is a beautiful insight into a lonely, troubled, complicated figure yearning for love and acceptance.
The Talented Mr. Ripley was met well by the critics upon release and went on to be nominated for five Oscars; including best Adapted Screenplay for Minghella and Best Supporting Actor for Law.
Carol is out on DVD, Blu-Ray & VOD now.