The Talented Mr. Ripley
1999 · Directed by Anthony Minghella
Original language: English
- thriller
- crime
- drama
The story
Tom Ripley is a calculating young man who believes it's better to be a fake somebody than a real nobody. Opportunity knocks in the form of a wealthy U.S. shipbuilder who hires Tom to travel to Italy to bring back his playboy son, Dickie. Ripley worms his way into the idyllic lives of Dickie and his girlfriend, plunging into a daring scheme of duplicity, lies and murder.
What it’s like
Sun-bleached and sensual, with long unhurried shots of Italian coastlines, whitewashed villas and Venetian canals in hard summer light, then sudden shifts into dim interiors, shadowed piazzas and the cool blue of night. Anthony Minghella frames his people with a painterly eye, often tucking a single figure into a wide empty frame, and the score by Gabriel Yared moves between sweeping strings and quiet piano that lets silences hang. The mood is languid and quietly feverish, a slow-burn unease that sits under the beauty like heat under stone. The pace is patient, the tension creeping rather than jolting, and the period glamour of 1950s travel, jazz-club nights and yachts keeps the surface seductive even as the emotional temperature climbs. Violence is brief but sharp: a few sudden, startling moments, with one death that lands hard, and otherwise menace carried by looks, lies and the dread of being found out. It follows a lonely outsider's obsessive longing and the slow erosion of his conscience, and suits viewers who enjoy elegant, character-driven thrillers that linger on desire, envy and the seductions of a borrowed life, best watched late with a glass of wine.
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