LOVING HIGHSMITH
Switzerland/Germany, 2022, 83 minutes, Colour.
Voices of: Gwendolyn Christie.
Directed by Eva Vitija.
As Patricia Highsmith notes in this documentary, she was listed in the international Who’s Who. For readers and filmgoers, the name Highsmith immediately refers to Patricia Highsmith.
It should be noted that this documentary runs for 83 minutes. Clearly (and as a number of bloggers remind us) there was a lot more to her life and to her career that is not mentioned. However, one might see this documentary as an opening up of the life and of Patricia Highsmith. She was born in 1921, Strangers on a Train was released when she was 30, she died in 1995.
The filmmakers have based the documentary on excerpts from Patricia Highsmith’s diaries. Her writing appears on screen (and very difficult to read even for people with good eyesight). Which means then that this is Patricia Highsmith’s view of herself. And, actress Gwendolyne Christie (Game of Thrones) provides the voice for Highsmith. The voice fitting very well with the voice of the actual writer heard in quite a range of interviews with her.
On the biography aspect, there is her birth in Texas, the distance from her mother (and later reminiscences of an attempted abortion), staying with her grandmother and family in Texas, her mother bringing her to New York at the age of six, her schooling in New York, her wanting her mother’s love, her mother’s blunt comments about her life and relationships, a separation from her mother even though she dedicated two of her books to her.
There are scenes of rodeos in Texas but, probably too many of these throughout the film, the audience understanding the world of Texas. There are interviews with to her grand nieces, highlighting the bond between their grandfather and their grand aunt. They remind audiences of the atmosphere of segregation and racism in the South as well as public propriety.
The film’s main focus points is that of Patricia Highsmith’s sexual orientation, her mother’s comment on it when she was young, her relationships, her attitude towards men, the gay clubs in New York City, in Paris, and interviews with a range of women who knew her and/or were in a relationship with her. They certainly fill in the background of her life, many partners, relationships, her living abroad, homes in London, France, Switzerland.
While there is an emphasis on the books that she wrote, many are not named. Those that are named of those which were filmed – and, looking at the IMDb, one realises that there were many more films based on Patricia Highsmith novels over and above those treated in this film – Deep Waters (French and American versions), Two Faces of January, A Kind of Murder…
The film has a substantial number of clips from the key films highlighting the key novels. Alfred Hitchcock made Strangers on a Train and there are scenes from this and Patricia Highsmith discovering the idea and the development of the novel. Her second novel was the lesbian story, the Price of Salt, published under a pseudonym with comments about the publishing of lesbian novels in those times. However, she did publish it before her death with the title, Carol, the title of the film with Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara, with a significant number of clips included here.
But, Patricia Highsmith is most notably linked with Tom Ripley, several novels about the charmingly psychopathic killer. There are no clips from the French version in 1962 with Alain Delon. The main clips are with Matt Damon from The Talented Mr Ripley and then some excerpts from Wim Wenders’ The American Friend with Dennis Hopper.
Which means then that, although there are limitations and room for many developments in the portrait of Patricia Highsmith, this documentary serves as an interesting introduction.
