I agree with the first ... that he brought Marge to Dickie's building to seem credible.
Writer & director Minghella's commentary explains that this scene illustrates Ripley's ability to improvise, like a jazz player playing variations on a theme.
So Ripley didn't really know what he'd have done had they not run into the police (the reporters were there when he returned). He was, after all, already rattled from crashing his scooter a moment earlier. He was improvising.
And I WOULD agree that, in the second instance, it was to seem credible; i.e., he pretended he was OK letting her in, then pretended to change his mind.
However, Minghella explains that Ripley, at this point, is "spinning plates" frantically, and had actually forgotten that Marge was on her way. When he said to let her in, that was Ripley legitimately giving up. He was weary at the world closing in on him.
But then his instincts kick in and he starts improvising again.
It's ridiculous, but this thread actually conjured up an image in my head of Tom sticking his head around a wall and pretending to speak as Dickie.
Specifically called to mind a scene from the Gene Wilder comedy, "The World's Greatest Lover" at 34:30
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghshc5kSeFE
reply
share
daveyh (634)
a year ago
Matt Damon's acting, or the direction of it, is so good in this scene that I interpreted it the way you said Minghella describes it.
"Tom" is no longer acting when he says "let her in, what's the difference", it genuinely looked like he had given up and was resigned to the fact that Tom/Dickie was going to get sent down anyway. Then it's like he gets a second wind and starts acting again, like he says, instincts kicking in because there's still a chance, however slim, that he can get away with it, but that would all be gone if Marge entered the room.
As for the first question of the OP, I'd assume he was going to kill her in the empty apartment but had to change tac when there were people outside. That said, Marge also disappearing would have been too much....although maybe he'd already made the decision, even at this point, to write Dickie's suicide note and go back to being Tom. So one more murder attributed to Dickie wont make a difference.
reply
share