The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) by John Sylva Rating: A
In forty years or so, as people do now with such movies as "Bringing Up Baby" or "Gone With the Wind", people will look back on one film that starred a chunk of the A-list of actors that made their mark in the movie industry during the early years of the 21st century. The cast of this movie will consist of the next Audrey Hepburn-s, the next Clark Gable-s, and so on. That film is "The Talented Mr. Ripley," a haunting, stunning thriller that follows the same form legendary director Alfred Hitchcock uses in films such as the 1960 spellbinding classic, "Psycho".
His last film being 1996's war/love story "The English Patient", Anthony Minghella writes and directs this masterful, chilling character study with one of the most appealing, talented casts of any film this year. Adapted from the Patricia Highsmith novel of the same name, the screenplay for "The Talented Mr. Ripley" is written to perfection, starting with a long, thorough exposition that leads to a phenomenal climax, followed by probably the most clever, thoughtful ending of the year. From first frame to last, "The Talented Mr. Ripley" gives you your money's worth with humor, suspense, and not one, not two, but four Academy Award worthy performances that will certainly enhance each actor's career.
On the surface, "Ripley" may appear to be just another entry into the ongoing dice ‘em up flick genre, but the film goes much deeper than anything has in that area, making a film comparable to the brilliance of "Psycho." Thomas Ripley is a Norman Bates for the new millennium, a tragic, unsettling character whom you want to associate with and feel for, but in the end you can't help hoping he fails in his conquest of murder and lies.
The film, set in the 1950's follows a young sociopath named Thomas Ripley (Matt Damon) who is persuaded by a man who is impressed with Tom's piano skills, Herbert Greenleaf (James Rebhorn) to go to Italy and retrieve his wealthy, first-class flirt of a son, Dickie (Jude Law). Ripley accepts the offer, and sets off to Italy. Upon his arrival at a crowded airport, he runs into Meredith Louge (Cate Blanchett), a wealthy business woman who works in the textile industry, whom he will introduce himself to as Dickie Greenleaf. From here, it's apparent Ripley would like to live the life of Dickie instead of his own, and upon his first meeting with Dickie, that thought becomes an obsession, which becomes a murder.
"Ripley" has Tom posing as an old classmate of Dickie's from Princeton, and as a result, Dickie and girlfriend Marge Sherwood (Gwyneth Paltrow) automatically befriend him and Dickie invites Tom stay at his home. Tom falls in love with the lifestyle that Dickie and Marge live daily, and also with Dickie as a person. Where things get even more complicated is when Tom decides to assume Dickie's life, creating himself a fake I.D., and introducing himself to everyone except Marge as Dickie Greenleaf. As the plot unfolds, Meredith will start to date Dickie, and once things really get going, a fair number of lives have been taken. It will be Ripley's ultimate task to maintain his fake identity, but the goings get harder for him once Meredith, who knows him as Dickie, and Marge, who knows him as Tom, start interacting.
"The Talented Mr. Ripley" is similar to last fall's oddball comedy "Being John Malkovich" in a variety of ways, although in "Malkovich," being someone else is as easy as crawling into their brain through a portal, but in "Ripley," you must continue killing and lying to maintain your new identity. These are two of many recent films that focus on a character wanting to be someone else. What is it about changing one's identity that perplexes so many filmmakers to the point where they write feature films about the subject matter? "Ripley" is the only one that can be classified as film noir, and is the most effective of all in that this is undoubtedly, the best thriller of the year.
Matt Damon first broke into Hollywood two years ago with "Good Will Hunting," and ever since has had the boy next door, goody-goody reputation following him. His performance here in "Ripley" is one that will erase his old reputation, and bring on a more sophisticated feel to him. His performance two years ago in "Hunting" was a shock, but Damon is as it his best yet in "Ripley," delivering his lines with an eerie, powerful sense. Damon would seem to be the last person who could realistically play a villain in a film, but here he proves he can be the good guy just as well as he can the bad.
Jude Law, a lesser known actor who has appeared in fiction flicks as "Gattaca" and "eXistenZ," also turns in a fine performance as his charismatic character. Dickie is a mostly realistic, yet somewhat over the top character who will be your best friend one moment, and the next be your worst enemy.
Gwyneth Paltrow is even more Oscar worthy here than she was in last year's Academy Award Best Picture "Shakespeare in Love," showing off her gleaming dramatic chops in the film's final forty five minutes. Paltrow's character is too light during the film's first half to get any award recognition for her performance as the confused, devastated Marge, but now Paltrow shows comedy isn't the only genre she can master.
As far as supporting roles go, "Ripley" has an array of fine actors who are underused as their interesting characters. Among them being Cate Blanchett, who was robbed last year of an Oscar from one of this film's co-stars, Gwyneth Paltrow, in the dazzling film "Elizabeth." A second Oscar nomination in a row is most probably out of the question for Blanchett, as although she shines as her important character, she is only fed ten to twelve minutes screen time from Minghella's screenplay. Blanchett's role should have and could have been enhanced, as Meredith Louge is not just another part of Ripley's life, she is the link between the real world and the world that Ripley has created for himself. On the other hand, Phillip Seymour Hoffman comes of rather restrained as his wise cracking, obnoxious character of Freddy Miles, a close friend of Dickie's who steals the attention that Tom gets from Dickie around halfway through the film. Other supporting actors who deserve more screen time include Jack Davenport as a close friend of Marge's, and Jack Rebhorn, as the concerned Herbert Greenleaf.
"The Talented Mr. Ripley" is an unpredictable, unforgettable motion picture, that will certainly hold its own at the Oscars in March. Every element of the film is haunting, from the lively musical score to the beautiful Italian locations, "Ripley" will follow you in your mind for days after your viewing it. Anthony Minghella's wonderful masterpiece is clever in the way that it absorbs you, making you believe the friendship between Tom and Dickie, and then throws numerous plot twists at you, wrapping you around its story even more. And that's where the film truly succeeds, in a way that it will challenge your thoughts about being another person, as the violent images that occur from Ripley's longing to become Dickie are reason enough to just be happy with yourself.
The Bottom Line: Brilliant screenplay and direction make "Ripley" a thrilling, haunting drama.
Film reviewed December 29th, 1999.
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews