The Talented Mr. Ripley
by Anthony Minghella
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Actor: Cate Blanchett, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Matt Damon, Philip Seymour HoffmanDirector: Anthony Minghella
Brand: Paramount
Writer: Anthony Minghella
Producer: Alessandro von Norman
Producer: Lydia Dean Pilcher
Producer: Paul Zaentz
Producer: Steve E. Andrews
Producer: Sydney Pollack
Writer: Patricia Highsmith
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Subtitled)
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 139 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2000-06-27
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Paramount
DVD Reviews of The Talented Mr. Ripley
DVD Review: "The Best Thing Matt Damon Did!"
Summary: 5 Stars
"The Talented Mr. Ripley" was released in North America on Christmas Day, 1999 and became a boxoffice smash. Starring Oscar winner Matt Damon in the title role, the movie is about a man who entangles himself into the life of a rich shipping heir, Dicky, played superbly by Jude Law. Thomas Ripley goes to beautiful Italy, on the advice and expense of Dicky's dad, who wants Tom to bring his playboy son back to the U.S.. Once he gets there not only is Tom Ripley smitten by Dicky's extravagent lifestyle, but he is also smitten with Dicky himself. Once Tom realizes that Dicky will not give into his (Tom's) advances, he kills him. This is where the movie really takes off as Thomas takes over Dicky's life. The film is about stealing not only someone's identity, but their very own life.
The acting is flawless, and Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Cate Blanchett, and Gwyneth Paltrow all deliver excellent supporting acting performances. Anthony Minghella, who directed the superb "English Patient", outdoes himself in this film. He should have received an Oscar for his directing, as not only does he bring out the best in his cast, but he brings out the best in his shooting locales. Filming on location is difficult for any director, but once you see the directorial work in "The Talented Mr. Ripley", you will understand that filming this piece of art was no easy task. When I watch this movie it is unlike any I have viewed, as I feel like I am actually in Italy. The scenic locations are exquisite and they add to the drama of this masterpiece of the cinema.
The movie was nominated for five Oscars, sadly winning none, and the film was budgeted at forty million dollars. No expense was spared when making this work.
The DVD contains a neat commentary by Minghella, and there is a neat documentary on the making of the film with the cast. The trailer is included and the film is in widescreen.
This is definitely a five star movie!
DVD Review: Freaky Movie
Summary: 4 Stars
This is one of those films that sends shivers down your spine. Matt Damon is a pretty good actor and seeing "Jason Bourne," play this role and have such homo erotic and strange story tangents is just creepy.DVD Review: Absorbing and Irresistable Drama
Summary: 4 Stars
One advantage in having not is the motivation and desire it breeds to have. But to what cavernous depths may motivation and desire lower someone to fuel his inherent megalomania? Would he lie, cheat, and steal? This is probably innate. What of murder? I'll never tell.
The film, "The Talented Mr. Ripley" explores such disturbing issues quite demonstratively and effectively. Tom Ripley's (Matt Damon) anguish, is not only to attain wealth and stature, but also the persona and very name attached to both. The opportunity obliges when an affluent New York shipping magnate hires Tom as an emissary to go to a quaint village in Italy and extract his eccentrically wayward son, Dickie Greenleaf, exceptionally played by Jude Law.
The mercenary plan suffers a miscarriage when Tom becomes enthralled by Dickie, siding with him against the elder Greenleaf's intent. Mayhem ensues as these two pseudo "mates" eventually discover that even when one tosses the perfect salad, no matter what the effort; the oil and vinegar dressing never mixes. The oil is non-polar and consistently rises to the top, while the vinegar is polar and remains at the bottom. Dickie is the oil and Tom is the vinegar.
Despite his crass rendition of "My Funny Valentine," Matt Damon handles this complex title role with incredible precision; much like the spontaneous color transitions owned by a chameleon. His arcane blend of lucidity, psychosis, and guile is pitch-perfect. While Gwyneth Paltrow's (Marge) effort as Dickie's forlorn and jilted girlfriend was yeoman-like, Cate Blanchett (Meredith Logue) and Phillip Seymour Hoffman (Freddie Miles) are both prolific in their diminutive roles.
As for Director Anthony Minghella, this film does not leap off the screen in full spectrum like his brilliant epic, "The English Patient," yet he more than manages to purport dire substance to the main theme. In addition, Minghella exhumes colossal efforts from the adept ensemble cast. Under his masterful guidance and classic intuition, the cinematography reminds us of how sublime the southern tip of Italy is, and showcases the sheer elegance of the Mediterranean Coast. Scenes such as the ones where Tom is caught frolicking around in Dickie's clothes, and tears trickling down his face while taking in an opera, which parallels his actions are priceless.
One may not enjoy the dynamics of this sophisticated thriller, feeling that they may be too morally flawed. In order to smooth this doubt over a tad, Minghella himself in an interview stated, `the film is really about myself and how I imagined life in Italy.' He also said, 'it represents the worst of me.' If there is any truth to these statements, Anthony Minghella, though no longer amongst us, at least deserves a shot in the dark.
DVD Review: Minghella gives us the sad boy who wets his pants, not the charming snake that swallows the little white mouse.
Summary: 3 Stars
Anthony Minghella's The Talented Mr. Ripley suffers badly from that all-too-common condition, auteur's bloat. It's not just that the young, charming, amoral and murderous Tom Ripley has been turned into a corn-fed young man with tragic flaws. That wouldn't necessarily be a problem. Although those who love Patricia Highsmith's unadulterated protagonist might fuss, changing things is inherent in bringing books to movies. A different take on a character can be interesting. The problem is that Minghella takes nearly two-and-a-half hours to tell Tom's story. Just about 139 minutes to be more exact. We learn far more about Tom's background than we need - how he met his prey's father and got to Europe, his homoeroticism, his soul searching, his yearning. (Note to Minghella: Tom Ripley doesn't have a soul; that's one of the reason's he's so fascinating.) Minghella piles on miles of beautiful tourist scenery, throws in a new, major character, and in general just uses too much time. Once a director makes a couple of prestigious hits, establishes his name, maybe wins an Oscar, attracts big stars who want to work with him, and does his own writing, a key quality is usually lost. That's the ability of someone to say to him, "Buddy, here's your budget. Exceed it and we'll take the picture away from you" and "Hey, kid, if you don't give us a finished cut that comes in at under 100 minutes, you lose the final edit."
With Minghella's more sympathetic and less interesting Tom, we have a young man whose tragic flaws lead to murder and whose regrets lead to angst. Tom (Matt Damon) wants the good things in life. He's poor but is a natural chameleon and a willing opportunist. When he attaches himself to the wealthy Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law), life is good. When Dickie gets tired of him, Tom knows life will no longer be good. He knows he most likely can become Dickie. So he takes steps to do just that. Exit Dickie. Now Tom is in a cat and mouse adventure, moving faster and faster to protect himself and his investment in this new, lovely life of leisure. There's Dickie's on-and-off fianc?e, Marge Sherwood (Gwyneth Paltrow) to deal with, Dickie's old pal Freddie Miles (Philip Seymore Hoffman) to deal with, a new character Minghella decided to layer into the story (an irritatingly mannered Meredith Logue played by Cate Blanchett) to deal with and another young man who may wish he'd never met Tom. With frantic improvisation, some wooing, some boyish charm, an additional murder or two and a bout of sobbing regret, Tom Ripley does what he must. Unfortunately, Minghella has taken a charmingly conscience-free murder story and tried to turn it into meaningful literature.
Matt Damon does a fine job as Anthony Minghella's version of Tom Ripley, but don't expect the scheming, mooching, self-centered and charming Tom Ripley of either Highsmith's creation or of the Tom Ripley played by Alain Delon in Rene Clement's version of the story, Purple Noon (Plein Soleil). In a bit of nasty uneasiness, Highsmith, Minghella and Clement all turn us into observers who are rooting for Tom's success, but Clement manages to do this while telling Tom's story in 30 fewer minutes that Minghella needs. Minghella, however, also wants us to "understand" Tom. All we really need is to sit back and enjoy his attitude and his crimes.
The DVD looks fine. There's a commentary track by Minghella and several extras of the puff-piece "how we made the movie" variety. For fans of Tom Ripley, there's the excellent (except for the cop-out ending)
Purple Noon, plus two movies made from Highsmith's Ripley's Game. The American Friend features the unlikely Dennis Hopper as Tom. Ripley's Game gives us Tom played skillfully by John Malkovich. Ripley's Game is a first-rate, queasy movie.
DVD Review: One of Patricia Highsmith's Best
Summary: 5 Stars
One of my favorite films. You will find no redemption for Tom
Ripley in this film which allows a range of acting that knows no boundry.
Ripley always wins...or does he>
See all the Ripley series on DVD!
Description of The Talented Mr. Ripley
When dickies father a wealthy ship builder asks tom to bring his errant playboy son back home to america dickie and his beautiful expatriate girlfriend never suspect the dangerous extremes to which ripley will go to make their lifestyle his own. Its better to be a fake somebody than a real nobody. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 01/25/2005 Starring: Matt Damon Jude Law Run time: 139 minutes Rating: R Director: Anthony Minghella"I feel like I've been handed a new life," says Tom Ripley at a crucial turning point of this well-cast, stylishly crafted psychological thriller. And indeed he has, because the devious, impoverished Ripley (played with subtle depth by Matt Damon) has just traded his own identity for that of Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law), the playboy heir to a shipping fortune who has become Ripley's model for a life worth living. Having been sent by Dickie's father to retrieve the errant son from Italy, Ripley has smoothly ingratiated himself with Dickey and his lovely, unsuspecting fianc?e, Marge (Gwyneth Paltrow). In due course, the sheer evil of Ripley's amoral scheme will be revealed.
Superbly adapted from the acclaimed novel by Patricia Highsmith (also the basis of the acclaimed French version, Purple Noon), The Talented Mr. Ripley is writer-director Anthony Minghella's impressive follow-up to his Oscar-winning triumph The English Patient. Re-creating late-1950s Italy in exacting detail, the film captures the sensuousness of la dolce vita while suspensefully developing the fracturing of Ripley's mind as his crimes grow increasingly desperate. And where Hitchcock was necessarily discreet with the homosexual subtext of Highsmith's Strangers on a Train, Minghella brings it out of the closet, increasing the dramatic tension and complexity of Ripley's psychological breakdown. Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Cate Blanchett are excellent in pivotal supporting roles, and the film's final image is utterly effective: Ripley's talents have gone too far, and this study of class distinction, obsession, and deadly desire reaches a disturbing yet richly appropriate conclusion. --Jeff Shannon
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