The Talented Mr. Ripley
Sympathy for the devil
The only thing worse than a liar is a liar that’s also a hypocrite.
Tennessee Williams wrote this quote, and it has nothing to do with Patricia Highsmith’s novel of the same name as this week’s film. Still, it is maybe the most apt quote to pair with the movie, especially given Williams’s and the film’s covert homosexuality.
Regarding liars and hypocrites, though, Tom Ripley (Matt Damon) probably wouldn’t consider himself either. The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), directed by the talented and late Mr. Anthony Minghella (The English Patient 1996, Cold Mountain 2003), explores class disparity, identity, ambition, and the consequences of deception. Despite being set against the idyllic backdrop of 1950s Italy, the story's timelessness is like a sin wave, coming back in regular intervals due to the unfortunate predictability of the world. The movie offers a mix of psychological thriller and character study and plenty to chew on regarding what it says about the world around us.
Ripley is a young man who’s clever but unmoored, longing for a life of wealth and privilege that seems perpetually out of reach. When a chance opportunity lands him a paying gig to retrieve the wealthy Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law) from Italy and bring him home to America, Tom sees his ticket into a world he’s only ever observed longingly from the sidelines. What begins as a simple task spirals into a web of lies, envy, and potential violence as Tom becomes increasingly desperate to maintain his newfound lifestyle.
Damon’s performance as Ripley, despite his youth, and in some part due to the contrast to his recent breakout as Will Hunting, is one of his best. It’s a masterclass in restraint and calculation. At first, Tom is an eager outsider, wide-eyed and earnest, but as the film progresses, Damon slowly peels back the layers to reveal a sociopathic core. Young Jude Law’s Dickie Greenleaf (great name) is equally compelling, oozing charm and effortless privilege in a way that makes Tom’s obsession with him all the more plausible. Law embodies Dickie as a man whose allure blinds everyone—including himself—to the harm he casually inflicts. Jesus Christ, these actors looked good in the 90s. Including Gwyneth Paltrow, who plays Marge, Dickie’s fiancée, with a warmth and sharpness that makes her the moral compass of the story. Cate Blanchett, somehow not in the top billing those days, as Meredith Logue, provides another dimension to the world of wealth and status that Tom so desperately wants to belong to. Philip Seymour Hoffman (yes, he’s in there too) as Dickie’s friend Freddie Miles, stealing every scene he’s in, his devil-may-care attitude threatens to unravel Tom’s carefully constructed façade. It is impossible to overstate how necessary this film is for Hoffman fans if they haven’t seen it. His range knew no bounds.
The aspect of the film that seems it will stand the test of time is its ability to make us sympathize with a character who is in the clear moral wrong. Tom’s mimicry of Dickie—his clothes, his mannerisms, even his relationships—is not just a commentary on envy and self-loathing, but an indictment of a society that affords so much to some and so little to others. A society that would dole out its riches so unequally. The story doesn’t avoid showing the brutality of Tom’s actions, but it also doesn’t let us look away from his humanity. It’s this tension that makes The Talented Mr. Ripley so gripping. We’re horrified by Tom, but we can’t help but understand him. Is he a liar, or a liar and a hypocrite? Of this, I’m still not sure.
The Talented Mr. Ripley isn’t just a thriller; it’s a tragedy. Tom’s talent for deception is both his greatest strength and his fatal flaw. The more he succeeds in his schemes, the more isolated he becomes, trapped in a life that’s entirely a lie. Despite the moral complexity of the film, and despite who you root for with your brain or with your heart or with both, there is a clear loser at the end of it all.
The Talented Mr. Ripley
Written by Patricia Highsmith and Anthony Minghella; Directed by Anthony Minghella
1999
140 minutes
English
Recommended way to watch (at time of publication): Available to rent on most streaming services.
You’ll like this if you like: Gone Girl (2014), Strangers on a Train (1951), Nightcrawler (2014)