As a follow-up to his multi-award winning The English Patient, director
Anthony Minghella has chosen another literary adaptation: Patricia
Highsmith's The Talented Mr Ripley.
The story begins in the late 1950s with a chance meeting between
shipping magnate Herbert Greenleaf (James Rebhorn) and a young and impoverished
Tom Ripley (Matt Damon). Mistaking Ripley for a classmate of his son
Dickie's (Jude Law) at Princeton, Greenleaf offers to pay him to travel to Italy
to convince his philandering heir to come home. A gifted mimic and forger,
Ripley transforms himself into a Jazz-loving Princeton graduate and, on
entering la dolce vita, decides he likes it. And unfortunately for
Dickie, he likes it a little too much.
Unfortunately for us though, Matt Damon plays Ripley not as a the cool
sociopath Highsmith intended, but rather as an ingratiating frat boy
who's desperate to keep his membership to the club. Like Dickie and his
Princeton partner Freddie (Philip Seymour Hoffman), I found myself despising him.
Damon plays his sociopath as a guy who just wants to be loved - hardly
persuasive pschology - and his single mode of acting (goofy teeth and
quizzical arched eyebrow) is unconvincing. Law and Hoffman, on the other
hand, have no problems being completely selfish, egotistical, moneyed
brats and building nuance into their portrayal of that. Consequently, it is
these two - especially the charismatic Law - who end up being the magnetic,
caddish highlights of the film. Notably, the only time this two hours
plus movie sags is following Law's departure.
Aside from the fundamental problem of Damon, there is much here that is
hugely enjoyable. The film is gloriously seductive and filled to the
brim with bright romantic colours, heady sunshine and sexy, tanned
twentysomethings. You can see why Ripley desperately wants to have his
piece of this irrepressible and gilded lifestyle. And its plots twists
- particularly for those unfamiliar with the story - are orchestrated
with panache.
Just as The English Patient was an unusual love story, The Talented Mr
Ripley is an unsual thriller, and ultimately its attention to detail and
unusual take on the subject matter pay off. Hats off to The Talented Mr
Minghella.
Reviewed by Monika Maurer
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