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THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY Send This Review to a Friend
The first thing I did after seeing writer-director Anthony Minghella's new version of Patricia Highsmith's suspense novel was to rent and re-view "Purple Noon," French director Rene Clement's beautifully-crafted 1959 version of the same book and a favorite with fond memories of Alain Delon's portrayal of Ripley and of the film's nasty edge and surprise ending. It still holds up admirably as a film noir, color notwithstanding, very different from Minghella's lavish interpretation that is more romantic in the sense of Hollywood-style production values, even though the ending is more cynical than either Clement's film or conventional Hollywood films of that era.
"The Talented Mr. Ripley" is a high-powered glossy affair smashingly cast and sumptuously filmed in locations that make you want to hasten there. Matt Damon makes an attractively conniving Tom Ripley, a young man who finds a good deal falling into his lap when a rich businessman engages him to go to Italy and try to bring home the man's rebellious son, Dickie Greenleaf, who is content to live a playboy existence on dad's money. Handsome Jude Law is dashing and charming as Dickie. Beautiful Gwyneth Paltrow adds color as Marge, the woman in his life. The set-up begins to take shape when Ripley, after preparing meticulously to insinuate himself into Dickie's world as if they were old schoolmates at Princeton, is accepted as part of the entourage. Ripley, jealous of the upper crust that contrasts with his lower status, envies Dickie and the life he leads. I don't want to spoil the suspense by divulging the plot to those who may not yet know it. Suffice it to say that through one clever intrigue after another Ripley gets his wish at a cost that comes high to others.
Minghella complicates matters by introducing another character, fetching Cate Blanchett as Meredith, a rich young woman who knows Dickie and his set, which includes Philip Seymour Hoffman--very busy on screen this year-- as Freddie Miles, who has his suspicions about the interloper. Ripley's maneuvers become increasingly duplicitous and intricate and he must use his wits to keep up pretenses, and the fun lies in watching his slippery moves and evil solutions. Minghella's approach and Damon's acting render Ripley more sympathetic than he deserves to be and less of a total villain than Delon is in "Purple Noon." A closet homosexual undercurrent adds another dimension. John Seale's photograhy is splendid, whether in an Italian waterfront village, Venice, Rome or New York; also award high marks for Roy Walker's production design.
While my personal preference is the one-track tautness of Clement's undiluted film noir, this much more elaborate treatment is potentially a bigger crowd-pleaser. One can read all sorts of insights about society and efforts to be what we are not into the material, but that is heavy baggage for the film to carry. At its best, "The Talented Mr. Ripley" is better judged as contemporary edge-of-the-seat entertainment with a wonderfully seductive cast. A Paramount release.
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