The Talented Mr. Ripley
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Tom Ripley is a calculating young man who believes it's better to be a fake somebody than a real nobody. Opportunity knocks in the form of a wealthy U.S. shipbuilder who hires Tom to travel to Italy to bring back his playboy son, Dickie. Ripley worms his way into the idyllic lives of Dickie and his girlfriend, plunging into a daring scheme of duplicity, lies and murder.
What critics thought
Anthony Minghella's sun-drenched adaptation of Patricia Highsmith drew largely favorable notices, with particular praise for Jude Law's scene-stealing charisma and the film's capacity to make audiences uncomfortably complicit in Ripley's crimes. The sharpest disagreements centered on Matt Damon's casting — some found his boy-scout blankness genuinely unsettling, others called it a flat misfire — and on whether Minghella's glossy, tourist-brochure aesthetics deepened or gutted Highsmith's psychological darkness. Audiences were noticeably cooler than critics, and the film's airless final act drew complaints even from admirers.
“Damon is at once an obvious choice for the part and a hard sell to audiences soothed by his amiable boyishness ... the facade works surprisingly well when Damon holds that gleaming smile just a few seconds too long, his Eagle Scout eyes fixed just a blink more than the calm gaze of any non-murdering young man. And in that opacity we see horror.”
Lisa Schwarzbaum·Entertainment Weekly
“A tense, troubling thriller, marred only by problems of pacing (the middle section drags) and some implausible characterisation (Meredith's obsession with Ripley never convinces), it's full of vivid, miserable life”
Charlotte O'Sullivan·Sight & Sound
“The Talented Mr. Ripley begins as an ingenious exposition of the great truth about charming people having something to hide: namely, their utter reliance on others. It ends up as a dismayingly un-thrilling thriller and bafflingly unconvincing character study.”
Peter Bradshaw·The Guardian
“He turns The Talented Mr. Ripley into a splashy tourist trap of a movie. The effect is rather like reading the National Enquirer in a café overlooking the Adriatic.”
Amy Taubin·The Village Voice
Accolades
Genres
Crime, Drama, Thriller
Cast & Crew
Anthony MinghellaDirector
Matt DamonTom Ripley
Gwyneth PaltrowMarge Sherwood
Jude LawDickie Greenleaf
Cate BlanchettMeredith Logue
Philip Seymour HoffmanFreddie Miles
Jack DavenportPeter Smith-Kingsley
James RebhornHerbert Greenleaf
Sergio RubiniInspector Roverini
Philip Baker HallAlvin MacCarron
Celia WestonAunt Joan
FiorelloFausto
Stefania RoccaSilvana
Gabriel YaredComposer
Patricia HighsmithWriter
John SealeCinematographyThe Talented Mr. Ripley
Tom Ripley is a calculating young man who believes it's better to be a fake somebody than a real nobody. Opportunity knocks in the form of a wealthy U.S. shipbuilder who hires Tom to travel to Italy to bring back his playboy son, Dickie. Ripley worms his way into the idyllic lives of Dickie and his girlfriend, plunging into a daring scheme of duplicity, lies and murder.
What critics thought
Anthony Minghella's sun-drenched adaptation of Patricia Highsmith drew largely favorable notices, with particular praise for Jude Law's scene-stealing charisma and the film's capacity to make audiences uncomfortably complicit in Ripley's crimes. The sharpest disagreements centered on Matt Damon's casting — some found his boy-scout blankness genuinely unsettling, others called it a flat misfire — and on whether Minghella's glossy, tourist-brochure aesthetics deepened or gutted Highsmith's psychological darkness. Audiences were noticeably cooler than critics, and the film's airless final act drew complaints even from admirers.
“Damon is at once an obvious choice for the part and a hard sell to audiences soothed by his amiable boyishness ... the facade works surprisingly well when Damon holds that gleaming smile just a few seconds too long, his Eagle Scout eyes fixed just a blink more than the calm gaze of any non-murdering young man. And in that opacity we see horror.”
Lisa Schwarzbaum·Entertainment Weekly
“A tense, troubling thriller, marred only by problems of pacing (the middle section drags) and some implausible characterisation (Meredith's obsession with Ripley never convinces), it's full of vivid, miserable life”
Charlotte O'Sullivan·Sight & Sound
“The Talented Mr. Ripley begins as an ingenious exposition of the great truth about charming people having something to hide: namely, their utter reliance on others. It ends up as a dismayingly un-thrilling thriller and bafflingly unconvincing character study.”
Peter Bradshaw·The Guardian
“He turns The Talented Mr. Ripley into a splashy tourist trap of a movie. The effect is rather like reading the National Enquirer in a café overlooking the Adriatic.”
Amy Taubin·The Village Voice
Accolades
Genres
Crime, Drama, Thriller
Cast & Crew
Anthony MinghellaDirectorMatt DamonTom RipleyGwyneth PaltrowMarge SherwoodJude LawDickie GreenleafCate BlanchettMeredith LoguePhilip Seymour HoffmanFreddie MilesJack DavenportPeter Smith-KingsleyJames RebhornHerbert GreenleafSergio RubiniInspector RoveriniPhilip Baker HallAlvin MacCarronCelia WestonAunt JoanFiorelloFaustoStefania RoccaSilvanaGabriel YaredComposerPatricia HighsmithWriterJohn SealeCinematographyStream
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