The Talented Mr. Ripley tells the story of the often-charismatic Tom Ripley (Matt Damon), whose talents of impersonation, imitation and forgery combine with self-hatred, and tempt him with the possibility of adopting a different identity.
Set in New York in the 1950s, the story introduces "the talented Mr. Ripley" as a modest young man who was hired to play the piano at an exclusive party. A wealthy shipbuilder mistakes him for an old classmate of his son and Princeton graduate, Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law). Worried and angered by his playboy son's lifestyle of wealth, freedom and diversion in the paradisiacal southern Italy, he urges Tom (and pays him) to travel to Italy and persuade Dickie to return home. Impressed by his own ability to fool the stranger, the talented Mr. Ripley travels to Italy and embarks on a risky journey of persuasion.
The beautiful landscapes (of Venice, Tuscany, the Gulf of Naples, and southern Sicily, among other locations); the friendly girlfriend, Marge Sherwood (Gwyneth Paltrow); and the enviable popularity of the handsome Dickie (as with his "bon vivant" friend Freddie, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman) overwhelm Tom and amuse the viewer. Motivated by a dangerously potent and well-repressed desire to possess the very lifestyle Dickie personifies (a desire which is subtly and shyly represented with scattered innuendoes of homosexuality), Tom realizes that being with Dickie is not as promising a reward as becoming Dickie. Parting from the overly simplistic premise and main character's motto, "it's better to be a fake somebody than a real nobody", The Talented Mr. Ripley focuses more on its main character's abilities than on his need for a different identity; a choice which does not allow for a fuller development of this potentially intriguing character.
Otherwise, the film successfully transmits the lifestyle Tom longs for, as a result of the better-defined character of Dickie, and of the desirability the actor Jude Law effectively projects.
Set in New York in the 1950s, the story introduces "the talented Mr. Ripley" as a modest young man who was hired to play the piano at an exclusive party. A wealthy shipbuilder mistakes him for an old classmate of his son and Princeton graduate, Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law). Worried and angered by his playboy son's lifestyle of wealth, freedom and diversion in the paradisiacal southern Italy, he urges Tom (and pays him) to travel to Italy and persuade Dickie to return home. Impressed by his own ability to fool the stranger, the talented Mr. Ripley travels to Italy and embarks on a risky journey of persuasion.
The beautiful landscapes (of Venice, Tuscany, the Gulf of Naples, and southern Sicily, among other locations); the friendly girlfriend, Marge Sherwood (Gwyneth Paltrow); and the enviable popularity of the handsome Dickie (as with his "bon vivant" friend Freddie, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman) overwhelm Tom and amuse the viewer. Motivated by a dangerously potent and well-repressed desire to possess the very lifestyle Dickie personifies (a desire which is subtly and shyly represented with scattered innuendoes of homosexuality), Tom realizes that being with Dickie is not as promising a reward as becoming Dickie. Parting from the overly simplistic premise and main character's motto, "it's better to be a fake somebody than a real nobody", The Talented Mr. Ripley focuses more on its main character's abilities than on his need for a different identity; a choice which does not allow for a fuller development of this potentially intriguing character.
Otherwise, the film successfully transmits the lifestyle Tom longs for, as a result of the better-defined character of Dickie, and of the desirability the actor Jude Law effectively projects.