After Antony murders Miriam, it sets off a chain of events that involves blackmail, homoerotic obsession, an investigation, and more murder.
Antony suggests that the men “swap” murders-Antony killing Miriam and Haines killing Antony’s father-since neither would have a motive, freeing them both from becoming suspects, while Haines considers the proposition nothing more than a joke. In Highsmith’s novel, a fateful chance encounter between two disgruntled strangers on a train has deadly consequences architect Guy Haines wants to leave his cheating wife Miriam for his new love, Anne, while Bruno Antony, a wealthy psychopath wants to be rid of his overbearing father. This reputation was bolstered the next year, when Alfred Hitchcock, known as the “Master of Suspense,” adapted the book to screen. Highsmith’s debut novel, Strangers on a Train, was published in 1950, marking the start of her notable career.
Though the film updates some elements of the story to situate it in contemporary times (Affleck’s character is a tech entrepreneur), Highsmith’s deft touch can clearly felt in de Armas’ adulterous and sharply observant housewife Melinda Van Allen, a classic Highsmith character: flawed, complicated, and yet somehow endlessly, discomfitingly relatable.īelow is our guide to every movie adaptation made of Patricia Highsmith’s work. Case in point: the new film adaptation of Deep Water, starring Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas, which comes out on March 18. Though it’s been more than 70 years since her first novel was published, the thrills of Highsmith keep coming-her stories, though dark, tap into universal themes like moral conflict and forming identity, making them both apropos and timeless. Filled with blackmail, intrigue, and obsession, Strangers on a Train was the first of many film adaptations that would be made of Highsmith’s work, which comprises 22 novels and stories. Strangers on a Train, Highsmith’s suspenseful first novel, was published in 1950 and made into a film just a year later by Alfred Hitchcock. Ripley to the aloof yet alluring housewife Carol Aird in The Price of Salt-lends itself well to the big screen. The dramatic nature of Highsmith’s work, embodied by complex, riveting characters- from the charming but murderous grifter Tom Ripley in The Talented Mr. Lust, repressed desire, jealousy, suspense, class anxiety, rage-and usually at least one murder-are all recurring elements in her work.
The novels of Patricia Highsmith, the high priestess of the psychological thriller, delve into the dark depths of the human condition. Ana de Armas in 'Deep Water' Credit - 20th Century Studio
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