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All-American boy Matt Damon reveals his dark side in this stylish adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's landmark novel of suspense. Director Anthony Minghella (The English Patient) casts Damon against type as impoverished, social-climbing sociopath Tom Ripley with surprisingly effective results. Mistaken for a college chum of expatriate playboy Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law), Ripley is dispatched to Italy by the young man's parents to bring home their wayward son. There Ripley's identity crisis assumes deadly proportions as he becomes infatuated with the dazzlingly handsome Dickie and intoxicated by the glamorous, carefree lifestyle Dickie shares with his adoring fiancée (Gwyneth Paltrow). Minghella establishes the plot leisurely, allowing the audience to luxuriate in a sumptuous, 1950s Italy straight out of Fellini's La Dolce Vita, as the suspense steadily builds. The real accomplishment of the film, though, is the way it engenders empathy for the murderous, amoral Ripley. His yearnings (and closeted homosexuality) are made palpable and painful; anyone who has ever envied the rich and the beautiful will find that The Talented Mr. Ripley cuts like a knife. Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

After the Oscar-winning The English Patient, writer/director Anthony Minghella attempted another tricky literary adaptation with The Talented Mr. Ripley, which features heartthrob Matt Damon cast against type as a psychopathic bisexual murderer. Tom Ripley (Damon) is a bright and charismatic sociopath who makes his way in mid-'50s New York City as a men's room attendant and sometimes pianist, though his real skill is in impersonating other people, forging handwriting, and running second-rate scams. After being mistaken for a Princeton student, Tom meets the shipping tycoon father of Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law), who has traveled to the coast of Italy, where he's living a carefree life with his father's money and his beautiful girlfriend, Marge (Gwyneth Paltrow). Dickie's father will pay Ripley 1,000 dollars plus his expenses if he can persuade Dickie to return to America. As Ripley and Dickie become friends, Tom finds himself both attracted to Dickie and envious of his life of pleasure. In time, he decides that he would rather be Dickie Greenleaf than Tom Ripley, so rather than go back to his life of poverty, Ripley impulsively murders Dickie and assumes his identity. The Talented Mr. Ripley was based on the first of a series of novels featuring Tom Ripley written by Patricia Highsmith; the story was previously filmed in 1960 as Purple Noon, with Alain Delon as Ripley. Mark Deming

Product Details

• UPC: 097363314240
• Source: PARAMOUNT
• Region Code: 1
• Presentation: Wide Screen
• Sound: Dolby Digital Surround, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
• Language: English, Français
• Subtitles: English
• Time: 2:18:00
• Sales Rank: 4,108

This DVD is also available as part of a box set:

• The Talented Mr. Ripley / School Ties

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