The Talented Mr. Ripley
THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY (15)
D: Anthony Minghella
Paramount/Miramax/Mirage/Timnick (William Horberg &
Tom Sternberg)
US 1999
139 mins
Thriller
W: Anthony Minghella [based on the novel
by Patricia Highsmith]
DP: John Seale
Ed: Walter Murch
Mus: Gabriel Yared
PD: Roy Walker
Cos: Ann Roth & Gary Jones
Matt Damon (Tom Ripley), Gwyneth Paltrow
(Marge Sherwood), Jude Law (Dickie Greenleaf), Cate Blanchett (Meredith Logue), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Freddie Miles), Jack Davenport (Peter Smith-Kingsley), James Rebhorn
(Herbert Greenleaf)
*spoilers*
Patricia Highsmith's novel was originally adapted for
the big screen in 1960 by French filmmaker René Clément but didn't seem to tell the whole story. Anthony Minghella did a much better job with the Hitchcock-esque thriller in
1999.
Matt Damon stars as the eponymous character, Tom
Ripley, a sexually-ambiguous pauper who is hired by a shipbuilder to find his errant playboy son in Italy and convince him to return to America.
It takes little time for Ripley to find his man
(Dickie Greenleaf, played by Jude Law), but the two of them strike a friendship which eventually turns sour when Dickie finds he has nothing in common with Tom.
A murder at sea occurs, followed by a cover-up as
Ripley evades the police while simultaneously living the life of dead playboy.
All the performances in this film are brilliant,
especially Matt Damon and Jude Law, who steals the first half of the movie. Gwyneth Paltrow, Cate Blanchett, Philip Seymour Hoffman & Jack Davenport also star.
9/10
