Film

The Talented Mr. Ripley

Name: The Talented Mr. Ripley
Genre: Thriller, Crime, Drama
Released: 1999
Cast: Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Cate Blanchett, Philip Seymour Hoffman

Anthony Minghella's sun-bleached, seductive thriller follows a nobody who talks his way into a rich boy's life in 1950s Italy — and then can't let it go. It's gorgeous, slow-building dread dressed as a holiday romance, carried by a career-best Damon and a magnetic, doomed Jude Law. For anyone who likes their crime elegant and their morality queasy.

TMDb rating

7.2

If you liked this

Match Point2005

Woody Allen's coldest, best film shares Ripley's exact moral engine: a charming outsider claws into wealth and love, then discovers how far he'll go to keep it. Tense, glossy, genuinely amoral.

But Allen's off-screen reputation is a real dealbreaker for a lot of viewers, and fairly so.

Strangers on a Train1951

Hitchcock adapting Patricia Highsmith, same author as Ripley, with the same interest in charming men and the murders that follow them. Tight, clever, and the tennis-court climax alone is worth it.

But Black-and-white studio-era pacing and some of the plotting creaks a little by modern standards.

American Psycho2000

Trade Italy for Wall Street and murder-for-love for murder-for-a-business-card, and you've got a cousin film: another beautiful sociopath performing a personality because he doesn't have one underneath.

But Satirical and blackly funny where Ripley is mournful — if you want empathy for the killer, this won't give it.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

American Crime Story2016

Cunanan is Ripley made flesh: the same fantasy of borrowed identity and belonging, except real, recent, and fatal to real people, not a plot device.

A nine-episode true-crime miniseries about Andrew Cunanan, a real man who lied his way into wealthy and famous lives before killing several people, including Versace. Darren Criss is chilling.

But This actually happened, and the show doesn't let you forget it — much heavier and sadder than a stylish fiction.

Catch Me If You Can2002

A lighter, warmer variation on the same idea: a young man invents identities faster than anyone can catch him. Spielberg makes the con feel like a magic trick.

But It's fun and forgiving where Ripley is bleak; don't expect the same dread or consequences.

Parasite2019

Another beautifully engineered story of poor people infiltrating rich people's lives through lies, charm and forged credentials — and it earns every twist of the knife when it turns dark.

But Korean-language, and the tonal swerve from comedy to horror can feel abrupt if you're not braced for it.

A Place in the Sun1951

An early template for the genre: a poor young man dazzled by wealth and a golden couple, with a lake that changes everything. Montgomery Clift is heartbreaking.

But Stagier and more melodramatic than modern taste tends to prefer; the moralising is heavier-handed.

The Great Gatsby2013

Same obsession with reinvention, class, and the person you build to be loved by someone who'll never really see you. Luhrmann's version leans into the glamour and heartbreak hard.

But Style over substance is a fair complaint; it prioritises spectacle over the novel's quieter sadness.

Nightcrawler2014

Jake Gyllenhaal's ambitious sociopath climbing a ladder with a smile is Ripley's structure transplanted into modern LA news media — unnerving, propulsive, no moral safety net.

But Nastier and more overtly thriller-paced; it trades Ripley's languid dread for jittery momentum.

The Two Faces of January2014no page yet

Another Highsmith adaptation, another sun-drenched Mediterranean setting, another trio undone by money, desire and a body that needs hiding. Underseen and genuinely tense.

But Slower and less flashy than its cast suggests; it's a minor work compared to the big Highsmith adaptations.

Purple Noon1960no page yet

Same source material, same murder, wildly different verdict — this is what the story looks like when it wants you to fall for Tom instead of fear him.

The first film adaptation of the same Highsmith novel, made in France with Alain Delon at his most beautiful. Sun-soaked, sensual, and far more forgiving of its killer than Minghella ever is.

But Subtitled, and its ending softens the book's morality in a way that can feel like a cop-out.

Six Degrees of Separation1993

Same con — charm and invention as a passport into a class you weren't born into — but filtered through race, New York, and theatre instead of Highsmith's languid Italian menace.

Adapted from John Guare's play: a young Black man talks his way into a wealthy white Manhattan couple's apartment and dinner party by claiming a connection to their kids, and things spiral fast. Will Smith is extraordinary.

But Stagier and more talky than a film thriller, with a satirical, guilty-liberal register very different from Ripley's romantic dread.