THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY
(Anthony Minghella, 1999)

http://www.cinephiles.net/The_Talented_Mr_Ripley/Film-Synopsis.html

The Talented Mr. Ripley is directed and written for the screen by
Anthony Minghella (The English Patient), and based on the suspense
novel by Patricia Highsmith. The Talented Mr. Ripley tells the story
of the often charismatic Tom Ripley (Matt Damon), whose talents of
impersonation, imitation and forgery combine with self-hatred, and
tempt him with the possibility of adopting a different identity.

Set in New York in the 1950s, the story introduces "the talented Mr.
Ripley" as a modest young man who was hired to play the piano at an
exclusive party. A wealthy shipbuilder mistakes him for an old
classmate of his son and Princeton graduate, Dickie Greenleaf (Jude
Law). Worried and angered by his playboy son's lifestyle of wealth,
freedom and diversion in the paradisiacal southern Italy, he urges
Tom (and pays him) to travel to Italy and persuade Dickie to return
home. Impressed by his own ability to fool the stranger, the
talented Mr. Ripley travels to Italy and embarks on a risky journey
of persuasion.

The beautiful landscapes (of Venice, Tuscany, the Gulf of Naples,
and southern Sicily, among other locations); the friendly girlfriend,
Marge Sherwood (Gwyneth Paltrow); and the enviable popularity of the
handsome Dickie (as with his "bon vivant" friend Freddie, played by
Philip Seymour Hoffman) overwhelm Tom and amuse the viewer. Motivated
by a dangerously potent and well-repressed desire to possess the very
lifestyle Dickie personifies (a desire which is subtly and shyly
represented with scattered innuendoes of homosexuality), Tom realizes
that being with Dickie is not as promising a reward as becoming Dickie.

Parting from the overly simplistic premise and protagonist's motto,
"it's better to be a fake somebody than a real nobody", The Talented
Mr. Ripley focuses more on its protagonist's abilities than on his
need for a different identity; a choice which does not allow for a
fuller development of this potentially intriguing character.
Otherwise, the film successfully transmits the lifestyle Tom longs
for, as a result of the better-defined character of Dickie, and of
the desirability the actor Jude Law effectively projects.


The Talented Mr. Ripley Movie Review c 1999 Cinephiles -
All rights reserved.
Photo c Paramount Pictures and Miramax Films