A misunderstanding sends a young man to Italy to track down a reckless playboy, where he is soon seduced by the latter's jet-setting lifestyle.
Anthony Minghella was an acclaimed writer for the theatre, television, and radio who made his big screen breakout with the moving romantic ghost story Truly, Madly, Deeply in 1990. His migration to elite Hollywood status came with his ambitious 1996 adaptation of the prestigious novel The English Patient, which earned Academy Awards for Minghella and many of his crew members. His follow-up was another adaptation, this time of mystery writer Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley. Highsmith's work had been filmed before, most famously by Alfred Hitchcock with Strangers on A Train.
Minghella used the setting of the novel to continue exploring his Italian heritage, and while hewing closer to the source material than the previous film version of the story (René Clement's 1960 film Purple Noon, he did take numerous liberties with the source material. The time frame of the story was pushed forward roughly ten years, several new, significant characters were created, and the Dickie Greenleaf character's hobby was changed from painting to music. This latter alteration enabled Minghella to use classical and jazz as a point and counterpoint motif between his two male leads.
The film stars Matt Damon, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Cate Blanchett, and Philip Seymour Hoffman, along with a host of veteran character actors. Returning collaborators behind the camera are most of The English Patient's Oscar-winning crew: cinematographer John Seale, editor Walter Murch, costume designer Ann Roth, and score composer Gabriel Yared.
Shooting was done in many Italian cities, including Venice, Rome, Palermo, and Naples. Additional filming was also done at Rome's famed Cinecitta studios, and in New York City. These scenic locations and the glamour of the actors, costumes, and sets are uncommon for the thriller genre, and conjure up the atmosphere of Hitchcock's grand color productions in the mid-1950's, such as To Catch A Thief, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and Vertigo.
Ripley was a critical and box office success, and despite being released in a competitive year with an unusually large quantity of highly-regarded works, managed to get a number of year-end notices as well. It received Best Picture and Best Director nominations at the Golden Globes and from the British Academy, and Academy Award nominations went to Minghella for his screenplay and for Jude Law's breakout performance, among others.
Running time is 2 hrs, 20 min.
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