IN THE 1999 film “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” adapted from the Patricia Highsmith novel, the title character (Matt Damon) weasels his way into a triangle with the doomed but oh-so-debonair Marge Sherwood (Gwyneth Paltrow) and Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law) in the Italian seaside hamlet where the couple had planned to live out la dolce vita. Soon, of course, tragedy strikes, but even in the face of catastrophe Mr. Greenleaf manages to wear one of the all-time great summer shirts. It’s a 1950s knitted number with a wide collar that flops just like his swoopy hair, and—in the careless way of the young, taut and privileged—he...

Source: Wall Street Journal May 21, 2019 17:48 UTC