The Talented Mr Ripley
A sleek, seductive psychological thriller following Tom Ripley, a young striver who becomes entangled in wealth, glamour, and deception on the Italian Riviera. Sent to retrieve a wealthy playboy, Tom instead becomes intoxicated by his world — and dangerously determined to keep it. Identity, envy, and ambition blur as charm slips into obsession and paradise turns perilous.
DIRECTOR
Anthony Minghella
Actors
2h 19m • Rated R16 • Psychological Thriller, Drama • USA (1999)
Matt Damon • Jude Law • Gwyneth Paltrow • Cate Blanchett • Philip Seymour Hoffman
Reviewers celebrate Minghella's lavish visual style — sunlit piazzas, azure seas, elegant costumes — contrasting beauty with moral decay. The pacing is deliberate, allowing unease to simmer beneath glamour until it curdles into dread. Some note its length, but most argue it deepens mood, suspense, and character psychology.
Treacherous, seductive, and emotionally complex, Ripley remains a masterclass in slow-burn tension and psychological depth — a portrait of ambition and loneliness wrapped in immaculate Italian sunlight and elegant menace.
CRITICS ROUNDUP
Sumptuous, sinister, and flawlessly performed
Widely praised as one of the great psychological thrillers of modern cinema, The Talented Mr Ripley continues to earn acclaim for its stylish direction, haunting performances, and razor-sharp exploration of desire and identity. Critics single out Matt Damon’s chillingly controlled turn as Ripley, a performance equal parts vulnerable, calculating, and disturbing. Jude Law’s charismatic Dickie Greenleaf shines as the golden object of obsession, while Philip Seymour Hoffman’s sharp, suspicious presence adds electric tension.