Not only does it take us through an exquisitely photographed tour of 1958 Italy, The Talented Mr. Ripley takes us on a thrilling journey that begins with a borrowed college blazer and boils over into a cunning and deadly game of identity theft.
“I always thought it’d be better to be a fake somebody than a real nobody.”
I actually attended the New York premiere of The Talented Mr. Ripley. Matt, Gwynnie and Jude were there for the glamorous red carpet show and screening at MoMA, but what I remember most was the movie itself. My friend turned to me not even twenty minutes into the film and whispered “I love this movie.” I couldn’t have agreed more, and all of us in the theater seemed to be equally swept away by an incredible story, marvelous performances and gorgeous visuals.
A big contributor to the movie’s fantastic style was the clothes, which were designed by the stage and screen costume legend Ann Roth (Midnight Cowboy, Klute, Marathon Man and almost every film and play directed by Mike Nichols) and her frequent collaborator Gary Jones (The English Patient, Just Cause, Dressed to Kill). From stiff Ivy League New Yorker to loose, confident, devil-may-care rich boy who lives for boats, beaches, booze mixed with the heat and sex appeal of late ‘50s jazz in Italy, the designers’ choices were dead-on and dazzling.
Based on the first in a series of five Ripley novels by Patricia Highsmith known as the “Ripliad,” the 1999 film is the second screen adaptation of the book (the first was the terrific 1960 French film called Purple Noon starring Alain Delon). Though the 1999 film invents a few things (Cate Blanchett’s character, for example, is not in the book), it is truer to the source material and doesn’t shy away from the homoerotic undertones that were somewhat muted in the 1960 film. It is, in my opinion, director Anthony Minghella’s best film and is now available for streaming on Netflix (U.S.).
Watch the trailer:
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