The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) Reviewed by Eugene Novikov http://www.ultimate-movie.com/ Member: Online Film Critics Society
Starring Matt Damon, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Cate Blanchett. Directed by Anthony Minghella. Rated R.
He's a talented one himself, this Anthony Minghella. Three years ago, he scored big-time with his WWII weepie The English Patient. The film all but swept the Oscars and was a resounding critical and box-office success. Now Minghella comes out with another Oscar shoo-in that also happens to be one of the year's best films. The Talented Mr. Ripley is Minghella's proof that The English Patient was no accident.
A janitor at a philarmonic, Tom Ripley leads a rather boring life until he is sent ti Italy to persuade Dickie Greenleaf, the snobby son of a wealthy American businessman to come home. When he arrives, he finds himself falling in love with Dickie's lifestyle. Instead of actively pestering him to go home, Tom lives it up in Italy and Dickie's father pays for it. Before long Tom falls in love with Dickie himself.
Halfway through the movie there is a confrontation wherein Tom murders Dickie and takes on his identity. From there, he plays an elaborate game of cat and mouse with the police and with Dickie's girlfriend Marge (Gwyneth Paltrow), trying to make the police think that he is Dickey and make Marge think that Dickie's dumped her. The twist is that Tom is not some great conspirator; rather he is a modern reincarnation of Machiavelli, a man who thinks on his feet and kills when he must kill to achieve his goal. He is a great improviser.
You may have heard about the enigmatic Oscar nominee Cate Blanchett having a role in this movie. Her part is small, but it's there. She plays an American whom Tom tries to carry on an affair with while juggling his many other problems. Her character serves to demonstrate Tom's ability to inadvertently get way in over his head and then get himself out of trouble with his quick thinking ability.
The Talented Mr. Ripley runs almost two and a half hours and yet the pace and tone of the movie is pitch-perfect. By making the villain the focus of the film, Minghella (or perhaps novelist Patricia Highsmith, whose work this movie is based on) builds suspense quietly but undeniably. It's far from being a traditional thriller: the director doesn't use the soundtrack as an easy way out. The suspenseful scenes are mostly dialogue based, with only a few incidents of real violence but the result is as tense as anything.
Matt Damon gives what is surely his best performance to date as the title character. He perfectly conveys Tom Ripley's central trait: he doesn't seem to realize that he is a psychopath. At first he kills in his own best interest; by the end of the movie he kills because he has become addicted to lies, but he never seems to recognize that what he is doing is wrong. He sees that police are chasing after him but he never feels any guilt or remorse for his actions nor does he see any reason why he should.
I've liked Jude Law since I first saw him in the intelligent sci-fi thriller Gattaca and now, after a major role in eXistenZ, he one-ups himself. His Dickie is one of the films biggest joys (please, no pun intended) -- a spoiled brat who is also a decent guy and a compelling character. I liked Gwyneth Paltrow almost as much: she is one of the hardest-working actresses in show business and it always amazes me how she can turn in such deeply felt performances in movie after movie after movie.
One doesn't realize it at first, but The Talented Mr. Ripley is an extremely bold endeavor: a supposedly mainstream thriller that deals with concepts like homosexuality, betrayal and pathological lying in a deliberately paced, long production. I felt grateful that this movie was made. I didn't want it to end.
Grade: A
©1999 Eugene Novikov
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