Hedging 'Talented Mr. Ripley'

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Filmmaker Anthony Minghella tinkers with the novel and its compelling
main character.

December 24, 1999
By KENNETH TURAN, Times Film Critic


     "The Talented Mr. Ripley" is a wonderfully accomplished work
that's unconvincing at its core. A lack of nerve, or perhaps a
difference in temperament between filmmaker and author, has resulted
in a beautifully mounted and directed film that, despite the presence
of Matt Damon and Gwyneth Paltrow, is unexpectedly lacking in
emotional impact.

     Presented with one of the most unnerving, breathtakingly amoral
characters in modern literature, writer-director Anthony Minghella
worried that the audience would resist committing themselves to such
a chilling protagonist. So he monkeyed with the delicate balance of
forces and personalities that make the novel memorable, a move that
ended up backfiring and making Tom Ripley less interesting rather
than more.

     Ripley and his chilling adventures are the subject of five
novels by the late Patricia Highsmith, whose first book, "Strangers
on a Train," was turned into the memorable Alfred Hitchcock film.
Other filmmakers have been attracted to the Highsmith series; Alain
Delon starred in an earlier version of "The Talented Mr. Ripley"
(Rene Clement's "Purple Noon") and Wim Wenders did a version of
"Ripley's Game," the Dennis Hopper-starring "The American Friend."

     Writer-director Minghella, in his first film since the Oscar-
winning "The English Patient," would seem to be an excellent choice
for this project, and in many ways he is. Working with such top-of-
the-line collaborators as cinematographer John Seale, editor Walter
Murch, composer Gabriel Yared, production designer Roy Walker and
costume designers Ann Roth and Gary Jones, Minghella has a fine
grasp of both the film's gorgeous Italian atmosphere and its complex
narrative line.

     If only there was a compelling protagonist, all would be well.
But there isn't.

     "Ripley" begins in Manhattan in 1958 with Tom (Damon) borrowing
a Princeton blazer to accompany a singer at a tony reception. Eyeing
the jacket, shipping magnate Herbert Greenleaf (James Rebhorn) asks
if Tom knew his son Dickie Greenleaf at the school.

     Not only did Ripley not know young Greenleaf, he didn't go to
Princeton and is presently employed as a men's room attendant.
Naturally, he admits to none of this and when Greenleaf senior offers
him $1,000 to go to Italy and convince his wastrel son, whose "only
talent is for spending his allowance," to come home, Tom is eager to
agree.

     Wanting to blend in with Dickie, a jazz fanatic, Tom undertakes
an intense study of the music before he leaves New York. In fact,
Tom's entire experience can be looked at as the story of a young man
finding his vocation, of someone with a talent for deception and
impersonation, a gifted improviser with the truth, finding a life
path that suits him.

     Tom accidentally-on-purpose runs into Dickie (Jude Law) and his
girlfriend Marge Sherwood (Paltrow) on the beach at Mongibello (most
of the shooting was done on Ischia in the Bay of Naples). Despite
having the whitest skin on the continent, Tom manages to ingratiate
himself with Dickie, and he soon agrees to be a double agent, to
string Mr. Greenleaf senior along even though his son is unlikely
ever to return to the U.S.

     The more Tom hangs out with Dickie, the more he experiences his
sybaritic lifestyle, the more he finds it suits him. "I've gotten to
like everything about the way you live," Tom tells Dickie at one
point, carefully studying him like a book he wishes he'd written
himself.

     In the Highsmith novel, Tom is a shark among guppies, an ice-
cold cleaver cutting easily through the soft putty of American
expatriate lives. As played by Damon, very much out of character,
Tom is all gawky earnestness, determined to get what he wants in a
nerdy sort of way. Insecure, vulnerable but disturbing, this Tom
lacks the jaw-dropping fascination of Highsmith's character but has
nothing of real interest to put in its place.

     Another critical change from the book is to make Tom more
explicitly gay and his physical attraction to Dickie that much more
specific. This was just under the surface in the novel and, frankly,
it made for more dramatic tension that way. Plus, making Tom gay
mandated further changes to an already contorted plot.

     Damon does the best he can here, but this role is off-putting
without playing to his strengths. Paltrow's part as the long-
suffering "I make a fabulous martini" Marge is also undernourished,
but, on the other hand, much of the supporting cast is well chosen
and really sparkles.

     Law, a top young British actor, brings the right kind of savoir-
faire to Dickie Greenleaf, and Cate Blanchett, last seen as
"Elizabeth," is excellent as uncertain expatriate Meredith Logue.
Best of all is the unstoppable Philip Seymour Hoffman. His role as
the thuggish, arrogant, red-convertible-driving Freddie Miles, one of
Dickie's best friends, is pitch perfect.

     It's yet another of the memorable framing details that make us
wish that the central portrait of "The Talented Mr. Ripley" was worth
all this care.


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