Audiences stereotypically need to be able to identify with at least one (usually the main) character with in a film By identifying with one or more characters, the film experience becomes more personal and realistic, and therefore more enjoyable and or affective. In The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), the director Anthony Minghella uses the intertwining of spectator and character gaze to force audiences to identify with two generically undesirable characters. This creates tension and discomfort, as well a desire to see these characters succeed due to the self-identification. Within the bathtub sequence, Minghella foregrounds the intertwined gaze of the characters and spectator through the style of shots in order to force the spectator to identify with both the voyeuristic Ripley, and the fetishized Dickie.
The bathtub sequence from The Talented Mr. Ripley focuses on intertwining the characters gaze with that of the spectator. The scene is set within the bathrooms of Dickie’s Italian villa. The sequence begins with two characters, Ripley and Dickie, discussing their lack of siblings while playing a game of chess. Dickie reclines in a bathtub smoking while Ripley sits just outside the tub drinking red wine. The mise-en-scene is romanti

All of the fore mentioned shot styles are used to set up the crisis between Ripley and Dickie, and to force the audience to identify with both characters so that they undergo the crisis from both perspectives. This then creates an internal conflict and much discomfort for the spectator. Through the bathtub sequence it becomes obvious that Ripley is the stronger of the two simply because he assumes a voyeuristic gaze though homoeroticism. Dickie then becomes objectified through Ripley’s gaze, as he is shown as vulnerable through his nakedness and discomfort at being fetishized. Dickie must be objectified in order to reveal Ripley’s distorted mental state, thus foreshadowing the end of the film.

The symbolism is used in a similar way as the type of shot, as it reinforces the need to understand the characters mentality. Each symbol helps to visually communicate the reasons for the films crisis, as it compels the spectator to become one with the characters, as it works to strengthen identification through understanding.

The Spectators internal crisis arising out of his/her intertwined gaze is similar to Ripley’s crisis of identity. While the spectator identifies with Ripley’s homoerotic gaze, they must also identify with the Dickie’s objectified gaze. The spectator then becomes torn between two disagreeable gazes, but cannot escape either. The audience has become both the voyeur and the objectified, a completely contradictory experience comparative to the internal crisis of both characters.