Two Deaths Means Your Family Lives

 

The American Friend (1977) – A man with a fatal illness is given
the chance to provide for his family by killing two people.

Directed by Wim
Wenders                                                 Starring Dennis Hopper, Bruno Ganz

If you know you are
going to die, without any doubt, and a man you know in passing offers
you the chance to provide for your family, are you interested? Even
if it’s killing two men? Even if they’re criminals? Those
questions are the center of this careful, character driven movie.
Jonathan Zimmerman has a fatal blood disease. It’s not a matter of
IF he is going to die, only when. As the owner of a small framing
shop, he will leave little behind to support his family.

That’s when life
gets interesting.

The character of Tom
Ripley, created by author Patricia Highsmith, appears in five novels.
Three of them have been made into movies. Yet, Ripley doesn’t get
the play as a recurring character that Jason Bourne, or others do.
Given the amazing depth and nuance that Highsmith created, I would
expect someone to create a “Ripley Franchise” and run with it.
No such movement appears anywhere to be seen.

Here, played by
Dennis Hopper, fresh off of his work on “Apocalypse Now”, Ripley
is a secondary character. He suggests Zimmerman to someone else as
the perfect “man who wasn’t there”. A hit man that no one
would expect. He glides in and out of the man’s life, worried
about whether Jonathan can do the job. Ripley seems to like
Zimmerman, but isn’t very good at being a “friend”.

When I dug into the
background on Ripley, I discovered this incredible nuance. Highsmith
described him as “… suave, agreeable and utterly amoral”. He
is a con man, and a serial killer. Intelligent, talented (“The
Talented Mr. Ripley”), and devoted to pleasure, the character is
never simple. That brings some complexity to the action he
facilitates.

There’s not a lot
of traditional “action” here. The story is little more than what
I outline above. This is a movie about the conflicts within Jonathan
Zimmerman. Conflicts of family obligation, morality and compromise.
Wenders maneuvers the story with great care through the gritty
streets of Hamburg and Paris.

Which leads me to a
puzzle. I see the movie categorized as a film noir by some critics.
I’m not sure I’d agree. It plays along the edges of this vaguely
defined genre, but only along the edges. The setting has the
grittiness you’d expect, and it centers on a crime, so we can check
two of the traditional boxes. I’m less certain about the cynicism
that is the heart of the genre, and “The American Friend” lacks
the sexual tension that is also a classic part of film noir. Ripley
canon says that his sexuality is ambiguous, and there are signs of an
attraction beyond friendship with Jonathan, but it is never
developed. Neither is it a key part of the story. So I’d call
this one “noir-ish”.

Whatever it is, “The
American Friend” is a brilliant and compelling story.

Rating – ****
Recommended