Summary
Dickie, Marge and Tom sail Dickie’s boat, “Bird.” The wind is high as Marge prepares them drinks, and Tom asks if they can sail to Venice. Dickie agrees, and Tom insists that he would love to see Venice. The two men’s friendship is strong and enthusiastic, as they grin at each other and Dickie asks Tom, “do you ski?” Dickie tells Marge that they will have to teach Tom to ski as she passes out drinks. As they tease Tom for not knowing how to ski, Marge makes the joke that if they get married soon, they will have to invite Tom on their honeymoon, while Tom smiles and watches the couple kiss and jazz trumpet begins to play. In the following scene, Marge tells Tom that she hated New York and ran away to Paris to write a book where she met Dickie playing “My Funny Valentine” in a club. As Marge orders food at a food stand, the woman working gives her a curious look. As Dickie plays bocce with a group of Italian villagers, Marge jokingly tells him that she and Tom are running away together. The scene cuts to Dickie riding playfully on Tom’s back while a smiling Marge looks on. The three have become a strange sort of menage-a-trois, but Tom is privy to Dickie’s womanizing ways, as Dickie flirts with the woman working at the food stand once they are out of Marge’s view. She kicks away his advances and insists that she needs to talk to him, but he returns to Tom and trots away down the street.
Tom and Dickie’s friendship keeps intensifying. Tom clutches Dickie as they ride a vespa down the side of a hill, to which Dickie says, “You’re breaking my ribs!” An abrupt shift transports us into the smoky jazz club, where Tom sings “My Funny Valentine” with the band and Dickie watches him and accompanies him on saxophone. Back at the house, Dickie kisses the icebox and tells Tom, “I could fuck this ice box I love it so much,” as Tom sits smoking and reading at the desk. When Dickie benignly questions Tom more about his past, Tom deflects and Dickie hands him a beer. Tom tells Dickie to copy a line of Shakespeare onto a postcard, but Dickie continues to playfully question him about his more mysterious habits, accusing him of wearing the same shirt everyday before offering for him to wear any shirt of his he wants. Tom insists that Dickie write his signature on the postcard, to which Dickie tells him, “Without the glasses you’re not even ugly.” The men tease each other and Dickie tries on his glasses. Tom analyzes Dickie’s handwriting on the postcard, telling him that “there’s nothing more naked than your handwriting,” and suggesting that the fact that Dickie’s writing does not touch the line on the postcard belies his vanity, which Dickie cheekily does not deny. Dickie takes a bath by candlelight and Tom sits beside the bathtub playing chess with him, and they discuss the fact that neither of them have siblings. When Dickie asks what being only children must mean for them, Tom replies that it means they have never shared a bath, and asks if he can get in the tub. After a moment, Dickie says “no,” and Tom backpedals, insisting, “I didn’t mean with you in it.” We see Tom’s reflection in the green water as Dickie gets out of the bath so Tom can take his place. Tom looks at the reflection of Dickie’s naked body in a nearby mirror. Feeling he is being watched, Dickie turns around and Tom averts his gaze, to which Dickie playfully flicks his towel at Tom.
In the next scene Tom and Dickie visit a post office, and Dickie collects his allowance from his father, but the teller questions whether his face matches the face on his ID. Dickie insists that “this always happens,” and the two men retrieve their mail and leave. Tom tells Dickie about a letter he received from Fran asking him to come home and to stop telling her what an incredible time he is having and how much he loves Dickie. Tom also receives a letter from Herbert Greenleaf, which he reads on a train ride with Dickie. The letter states that Greenleaf is getting impatient and wants assurance that Dickie will return to New York for Thanksgiving, which Dickie ignores, telling Tom he needs to get a new jacket. Tom tells Dickie he cannot keep spending Mr. Greenleaf’s money, which Dickie interprets as a sign of Tom’s responsible attitude towards money, suggesting Mr. Greenleaf ought to make him a chief accountant of something. When they get to Rome, Dickie tells him, he will buy him a new jacket. As Dickie sings in Italian the scene shifts to the streets of Rome.
Tom and Dickie eat lunch in a square in Rome, while Italian men catcall a group of women walking by, and Dickie joins in in, calling “nice sweater” to one of the women. Dickie reveals that they will be eating with a friend, Freddie Miles, later in the day, to Tom’s surprise. No sooner has Dickie mentioned him than Freddie drives recklessly into the palazzo in a red convertible, scattering pigeons in his wake. Jumping out of the convertible, Freddie exhibits a privileged disregard for the effects of his behavior, yelling playfully at Dickie and saying, half to himself and half to Dickie, “Oh god, don’t you wanna fuck every woman you see just once?” before kissing Dickie on both cheeks. Freddie speaks in a disaffected lockjaw and takes immediate control of the afternoon, as the scene shifts to the interior of a record store, where Freddie and Dickie stand in a booth listening to music and Tom watches from afar. When Dickie tells Tom that he is going off with Freddie to a club and that they should meet at the railway station, Tom questions him about the club, and Dickie hesitantly invites him. Tom is disappointed that they will not be able to buy the jacket as Dickie promised and Dickie says he can just take one of his when they get home. As Tom says his goodbyes, Freddie glares at him from the listening booth, dancing along to the jazz, and Dickie tells him to “have fun.” Dickie goes back into the booth and listens with Freddie, but Tom knocks on the door, and reminds him that the train leaves at 8, an act of protectiveness that makes both of the men laugh at him. As he leaves he walks past a man sitting on another man’s lap in the street, and one of them whistles at a woman passing by. Tom visits some of the sites in Rome alone and reads a book on a hill overlooking the city as the sun sets, before getting on the train.
Back home, we witness Tom dancing alone, wearing his underwear and Dickie’s clothes, singing along to an old fashioned record, donning a hat, admiring himself in the mirror, and ceremoniously casting a white scarf around his neck. Dickie interrupts these flamboyant proceedings incredulously, which catches Tom off guard and he hides behind the mirror. Dickie tells Tom to get out of his clothes, but asks him to get undressed in his own room. After learning that Freddie drove Dickie back to the house and is downstairs, Tom becomes more embarrassed and asks Dickie not to say anything to Freddie, insisting he was “just fooling around.” Tom comes outside at the house to find Marge, Dickie, and Freddie sitting in the sun. As Tom comes to join them Freddie suggests that he wants Tom’s life: living with Dickie, wearing his clothes, eating his food, all on his father’s dime.
In the next scene, Marge, Dickie, and Freddie swim off the sailboat, while Tom reads on deck. Marge joins Dickie and tries to comfort Tom about Dickie’s coldness towards him. The two share the bond of feeling forgotten by Dickie, and Marge says, “when you have his attention, you feel like you’re the only person in the world. That’s why everybody loves him.” When she tells that Dickie especially likes him, Tom is visibly flattered. Freddie and Dickie jokingly drown each other and Marge asks Tom, “Why is it when men play, they always play at killing each other?” Thinking Dickie already told him, Marge accidentally lets slip to Tom that he is no longer invited to Cortina to ski, presumably at Freddie’s request. The group then embarks on a sail, and as Tom continues to read his book, Dickie asks Freddie to stay for the Festival of the Madonna. Marge looks disappointedly at Tom and then at Dickie and goes below deck, and Dickie follows her telling Freddie he has to do “Marge maintenance.” From the deck of the bow, Tom watches Marge and Dickie’s legs entangling as they begin to have intercourse in the cabin, which catches Freddie’s eye, who asks, “How’s the peeping?”
The woman from the food stand in Mongibello, with whom Dickie was having an affair, watches the sailboat from the shore, and walks away sadly, as the scene shifts to the Festival of the Madonna, and a group of Italian men lift a statue of the Madonna out of the water, as villagers clap and Marge, Dickie, and Tom watch. Men sing a traditional song and the skies begin to cloud with an impending storm. A woman is disturbed to notice the body of a woman floating in the nearby water, and the group of people jump in to retrieve the body. The woman is revealed to be the woman with whom Dickie was having an affair, and Tom looks to Dickie, trying to register his response. Dickie yells “Is someone getting an ambulance?” from the shore, as the woman’s mother cries and grieves over the body. The camera frames Dickie’s eyes in close up and the villagers mourn over the body and put it in the car. As a fight breaks out, Tom asks Dickie what the fight is about, saying, “that’s her fiancé isn’t it?” Defensively, Dickie insists he has no idea and bemoans how long it took to find an ambulance. When Marge tries to reason with him that the woman was already dead, Dickie kicks over a table insisting that Italy is primitive, not civilized as people think. Tom watches stoically as the camera shows the chair and table that Dickie overturned, soil spilled across the floor.
Dickie plays the saxophone by the window of the house, and Tom tells him he knows why Dickie is upset and that he knows about his relationship with the woman, whose name was Silvana. As Tom tries to clean up, Dickie yells at him furiously that he does not need to clean up. As Tom walks away, Dickie says, “She was pregnant, did you know that?” which draws Tom back into the room. After Dickie suggests that Silvana’s pregnancy will have real consequences, Tom offers to take the blame, smiling and insisting that the two men are surrogate brothers. Dickie reveals that Silvana had come to him for money, which he had refused her. Tom promises not to tell Marge or the police and promises to keep it a secret between them. The two men become closer again with the shared secret between them and the scene shifts to Tom reading Dickie a letter from Mr. Greenleaf releasing Tom from his employment. While Tom assumes that Dickie will write to his father again and convince him to keep Tom around, Dickie says that he cannot in all decency keep using his father’s money and that they cannot go to Venice together as planned if Tom cannot pay his own way. Tom is disappointed as Dickie divulges he wants to go to San Remo, inviting Tom along so they can “say goodbye in style.” Tom agrees to come along and they take the train to San Remo.
On the train to San Remo, Tom takes off his glasses and gazes at sleeping Dickie, before resting his head on his shoulder and burying his face in his jacket. They are interrupted by a conductor announcing their imminent arrival in San Remo, and as Tom gazes at their merging reflection in the train window, Dickie abruptly awakens and asks, “why do you do that thing with your neck?” Dickie teases him and calls his behavior “spooky-ky-ky-ky,” the second syllable dissipating into a percussive emulation of a high hat in a jazz combo.
Analysis
In this portion of the film, the audience sees Tom both ascending the ladder towards belonging in the world of his wealthy compatriots, but also losing his foothold when he becomes insecure. As he spends more time with Dickie and Marge, he develops an acute intimacy with the two of them that becomes almost familial. While on the sailboat, Marge even alludes to Tom’s unique intimacy with the two of them, remarking that he ought to come with them on their honeymoon. What keeps the arrangement going, however, is that while Tom’s proximity to Marge and Dickie’s private lives is certainly unusual, it does not seem to bother anyone. He becomes a witness to their relationship and their lives in a way that continues to intensify, with all parties experiencing growing affection with each day. Tom finally feels the acceptance in the elite world that has seduced him from the start of the film, and his presence seems to provide a bridge and improve relations between Marge and Dickie. In this portion of the film, Tom becomes a surrogate son, and theirs is a happy if unconventional family.
In addition to his platonic intimacy with the couple, an erotic and romantic energy begins to intensify between Tom and Dickie, especially on Tom’s end. The film shows both men’s enjoyment of each other’s company and companionable affection, as both smile and laugh and tease each other flirtatiously. While Dickie seems to perceive their affections and teasing as male bonding, the viewer gets the impression that the closeness has a deeper meaning for Tom, who holds a grin and gazes expectantly after Dickie has moved on to something new. In a climactic moment of sexual tension, Tom asks to get in the bath with Dickie, which he then backpedals on when Dickie refuses. As Dickie gets out of the bath, Tom stares at the reflection of his naked body in the mirror, and when Dickie catches him looking, the moment is diffused in playful mockery. Additionally, Tom identifies with Dickie, seeking to emulate his tastes. Minghella portrays this merging of the two men when Tom hides behind the mirror after Dickie finds him dancing flamboyantly in his room. The viewer sees Tom’s head peeking above the mirror, while Dickie is reflected on the mirror, visually merging the two men into the same body, further intensified by the fact that Tom is wearing Dickie’s clothes. Tom’s belonging in Dickie and Marge’s world is not only about his acceptance socially, but about his simultaneous identification with and attraction to Dickie. Tom’s identification and merging with Dickie is a persistent theme.
Tom's androgyny is made more explicit in this portion of the scene as well, as exemplified in his emotional confiding in Marge and his feminine displays in private. On the sailboat, Marge and Tom share in their disappointment at Dickie's inconsistent affections, speaking almost as if from a similar perspective. In this moment of emotional vulnerability, Tom plays the role of spurned lover with Marge, and both share the sensation of feeling cast aside by Dickie. In addition to his emotional identification with Marge, Tom is at his most androgynous when he is prancing around Dickie's bedroom in Dickie's clothes singing along to the record. In his underwear and a fedora, Tom preens in front of mirrors and throws a white scarf around his neck with the abandon of a nightclub performer. His antics are undeniably feminine, which causes him great shame upon being discovered by Dickie.
When Tom and Dickie travel to Rome, with the arrival of the brash Freddie Miles and Dickie’s subsequent neglect of Tom, the happy arrangement begins to unravel. Freddie Miles is the most skeptical of Tom and his intentions, the first to puncture Tom and Dickie’s idyllic bubble. Tom is afraid of Freddie, not only because Freddie is a self-impressed braggart who belongs in the world that Tom is only pretending to belong in, but because Freddie is suspicious of him and judgmental of his strong attachment to Dickie. Freddie is the one who bars Tom from coming to Cortina, and who catches him spying on Marge and Dickie’s sexual foray on the boat. The presence of Freddie causes Dickie to spend less time with Tom, much to Tom’s dismay.
The threat of his departure only makes Tom more desperate to belong in Dickie’s world. It takes the suicide of Silvana to get Tom back in Dickie’s affections, as Tom promises to keep Dickie’s secret safe because they are “brothers,” but their companionable relationship only returns for a brief moment. Their friendship and the Greenleafs' patronage now has a deadline, as Tom is discharged from his task of bringing Dickie back to America. Tom grasps more desperately for the attention—both material and social—of Dickie and the Greenleaf family. The end-date of Dickie’s plush company only intensifies Tom’s striving to stay and belong, and his gaze moves from gleeful grin to desperate grimace. At the end of this portion of the film, Tom yet again views his own image merging with Dickie’s in reflection, as on the train to San Remo, Dickie’s sleeping face appears in profile in the train window with Tom’s framed straight on behind him. Tom views their reflection as a merging between the two of them, but this time Tom’s attitude appears more menacing, as eerie piano music plays.
