Best known for her works Strangers on a Train, The Talented Mr. Ripley and The Price of Salt (later published under the title Carol), Patricia Highsmith led a life of many contradictions. Born to a Texan mother who essentially abandoned her at a young age, Highsmith spent most of her life vacillating between wanting to be loved and wanting to be left alone. She often struggled with alcoholism and depression, and many of those who knew her described her as possessing a biting wit that often bordered on cruel — a ruthless characteristic that she would ultimately become known for. She harbored many racist viewpoints, and her opinions about the LGBTQ+ community often viciously clashed with her own identity as a lesbian. It is surprising then, that Eva Vitija’s latest documentary about Highsmith’s life manages to skirt around these controversial aspects in order to paint a more sympathetic picture of the famous writer.
Loving Highsmith combines excerpts from Highsmith’s journals with both interviews of those who knew her and footage from the movies made from her books. Gwendoline Christie reads the excerpts from Highsmith’s journals, which often highlight the sense of supreme loneliness and longing that Highsmith struggled with for much of her life. In one particularly poignant entry, Highsmith states, “Writing, of course, is a substitute for the life I cannot live, am unable to live,” making it clear that hers was a life of inner turmoil and strife, and yet the documentary never goes to great lengths to unpack Highsmith’s obviously complex existence.
Instead, much of Vitija’s documentary chooses to focus on some of the many romantic relationships with women that Highsmith had. However, the footage and descriptions of Highsmith provided by those who knew her never really get to the heart of what made Highsmith such a controversially prickly character. In interview footage, Highsmith states that she prefers to live and work alone because people tire her, and yet her constant need for companionship and approval is undeniably obvious throughout the film. Still, this need for acceptance coupled with her own self-hatred is something the documentary barely comments on, skirting around the issue by choosing to wallow in its own nostalgia instead of really digging into the meatier traits of Highsmith’s life.
While Loving Highsmith is admirable in its attempts to soften this famous writer’s aggressive character, one wonders if this is ultimately the right decision. Highsmith’s novels typically contain unlikeable characters, with some of them even going so far as to commit murder. Tom Ripley, who is perhaps her most famous fictional creation, is complex, straddling the line between likeable and cruel. Though he is ultimately a killer, Highsmith garners sympathy for Ripley without completely obscuring his murderous tendencies. She depicts him from all angles which allows for a fuller understanding of his personality and actions. While Vitija’s documentary does provide some interesting asides about Highsmith, the complexity of this writer’s often bigoted emotional life is almost entirely absent. Perhaps if Vitija had chosen to treat Highsmith more like one of the characters in her own novels, we might have a better understanding of the woman she so clearly admires. In the end, viewers of Loving Highsmith will have to come to their own conclusions about the person Highsmith was, and unfortunately, those unaware of some of her less than flattering traits may walk away with a false understanding of one of literature’s most complex figures.
Photo courtesy of Zeitgeist Films
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