Product Details

• Actors: Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Cate Blanchett, Philip Seymour Hoffman
• Directors: Anthony Minghella
• Writers: Anthony Minghella, Patricia Highsmith
• Producers: Alessandro von Norman, Lydia Dean Pilcher, Paul Zaentz, Steve E. Andrews, Sydney Pollack
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), English (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Paramount
• DVD Release Date: June 27, 2000
• Run Time: 139 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (384 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00003CX6P
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #62,558 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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• For more information about "The Talented Mr. Ripley" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

"I feel like I've been handed a new life," says Tom Ripley at a crucial turning point of this well-cast, stylishly crafted psychological thriller. And indeed he has, because the devious, impoverished Ripley (played with subtle depth by Matt Damon) has just traded his own identity for that of Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law), the playboy heir to a shipping fortune who has become Ripley's model for a life worth living. Having been sent by Dickie's father to retrieve the errant son from Italy, Ripley has smoothly ingratiated himself with Dickey and his lovely, unsuspecting fiancée, Marge (Gwyneth Paltrow). In due course, the sheer evil of Ripley's amoral scheme will be revealed.

Superbly adapted from the acclaimed novel by Patricia Highsmith (also the basis of the acclaimed French version, Purple Noon), The Talented Mr. Ripley is writer-director Anthony Minghella's impressive follow-up to his Oscar-winning triumph The English Patient. Re-creating late-1950s Italy in exacting detail, the film captures the sensuousness of la dolce vita while suspensefully developing the fracturing of Ripley's mind as his crimes grow increasingly desperate. And where Hitchcock was necessarily discreet with the homosexual subtext of Highsmith's Strangers on a Train, Minghella brings it out of the closet, increasing the dramatic tension and complexity of Ripley's psychological breakdown. Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Cate Blanchett are excellent in pivotal supporting roles, and the film's final image is utterly effective: Ripley's talents have gone too far, and this study of class distinction, obsession, and deadly desire reaches a disturbing yet richly appropriate conclusion. --Jeff Shannon

From The New Yorker

For his first outing since "The English Patient," the writer and director Anthony Minghella has returned to the roasted light of Italy; this is a less passionate project-or, rather, the passions are directed toward less salubrious ends. The source is Patricia Highsmith's spooky, misanthropic novel of 1955; Matt Damon plays Tom Ripley, her murderous hero, although he probably lacks the quicksilver elusiveness that the role demands. He is outshone by Jude Law, whose violent disappearance, halfway through the picture, is a grievous wound. Law is sunny, slippery, and pansexual; he might have made a better Ripley himself. In the female roles, Gwyneth Paltrow struggles to find anything much in the stony Marge, whom Highsmith so loftily scorned; more rewarding is the dreamy Cate Blanchett as an heiress named Meredith Logue-a part invented by Minghella. Her fine features are like a flawless period detail in themselves. The film feels warm but unsettled, as if hinting at approaching storms; the score, too, flits from lugubrious to manic. With Philip Seymour Hoffman, perfectly cast once again, this time as another of Tom's victims. -Anthony Lane
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars HAVING IT ALL, October 25, 2004

By	GEORGE RANNIE "GWRJWMCL" (DENVER, COLORADO United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Talented Mr. Ripley (DVD)

When picking out films to see, I usually gravitate toward the "small" independent type of film usually avoiding the larger "major" productions. Thus, I avoided "the Talented Mr. Ripley" up until recently. My mistake! "The Talented Mr. Ripley" is outstanding and has, to me, everything a movie should have to make it the "complete film experience"-great script and direction, great acting, wonderful sound tract and beautiful cinematography. This film has it all!
The acting, by all of the actors, is superb. Matt Damon, as Tom Ripley is outstanding. He portrays a very complicated character believably. At no time are you aware that he is acting. This character does things that are, indeed, despicable; however, due to the acting skills of Damon, I actually liked the guy and felt deep sympathy and empathy for him and for his desire to be someone else
(I think we all have been there-at least I have-fortunately all of us don't do what Tom Ripley does, in the film, to achieve our wishes). To me the last scene of the film is fantastic and heart breaking due to Matt Damon giving a gut wrenching performance--the character Tom has finally found someone to love, and has found someone that accepts him as himself but due to past deeds and the need to keep his past hidden, he has to kill the person that could have brought him love and happiness. As usual, Jude Law, as the playboy and errant son Dickie, is awesome. He plays a cad but due to his acting skills you, like this cad. Gwenyth Platrow gives a "knock-em dead" performance, as Dickie's girlfriend starting out as a plastic rich "air-head" and ending up as the only one that really knows what has happened to Dickie when he has disappeared and becoming a completely different person because of that knowledge. Her knock down drag out with the character Tom is great. Cate Blanchett plays a socialite- debutante-type wonderfully. The acting alone would have made "The Talented Mr. Ripley" a great film; however, there is more!
The film has one of the best sound tracts that I've ever heard. The sound tract makes use of Renaissance Church music, so-called "Classical music" "cool" jazz and one of my favorites I (if not my favorite) pop standards-"My Funny Valentine" sung wonderfully by Matt Damon. The sound tract is gorgeous! What impressed me the most is that Matt Damon and Jude Law took the time to learn to really play the instruments that they were suppose to be playing in the film-Damon, the piano and Law the saxophone. One of my favorite scenes is in the smoked filled American-jazz nightclub--fabulous.
The recreation of 1950-era Italy is great and it is shot beautifully.
If you want to have an enjoyable film experience, buy this film

98 of 116 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SLEEK SUSPENSE, June 18, 2000

By	R. Penola (NYC, NY United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Minghella's sleek, gorgeous movie version of Patricia Highsmith's classic novel of suspense is near-perfect. The story, set in and around stunning Italian coastal hot spots, circa the 50s, remains fresh and infinitely compelling; the main character, Tom Ripley, is that fascinating mix of vulnerability and psychotic killer, much like Norman Bates in Psycho. Matt Damon does his best with this role; casting him I think was the film's one half misstep -- Damon exudes such a glamour and self-possession that it is difficult to wholly buy his insecurity, though adding more than a hint of homosexuality does much to make him more believable. The other performances, however, are riveting. Philip Seymour Hoffman is perfection as a smart, slick, obnoxious friend of Dickie's; Cate Blanchett, an added character, is engrossing, funny and heartbreaking, too; Gwenyth Paltrow, often overlooked in the reviews for this film, is spectacular in each and every scene, conveying the privilege of her class and also her near-desperate need for Dickie's love. But Jude Law emerges as a superstar in the movie -- he has the matinee-idol look of 50s stars, and does an amazing job of creating Dickie Greenleaf, that kind of shiny, sexy person, someone who has it all, with a cavalier indifference to those who love him most. The musical score is evocative and moving. The opening credits, an artistic risk, set up, with glossy, hynotic camera work, a film that will often leave you breathless. A thinking man's thriller, one that is not easy to forget.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Visually impressive display of a psychological breakdown, February 2, 2000

By	Golden Girls fan "Adam" (Alabama, USA) - See all my reviews

From the surreal opening to its unnerving final scene,this film has a very mental impact on the viewer who can stand to sit and watch. Matt Damon portrays Tom Ripley, a young American in 1950's New York sent to Italy to retrieve the son of a wealthy millionaire. Ripley is offered $1000 to carry out this duty. But upon his arrival he not only sees the son, Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law) and his fiance (Gwyneth Paltrow) sunbathing on the beach, but also the luxurious lifestyle he is living thanks to his father's allowance. This sets off a wave of desire in Tom and he begins to make his way into both Dickie and Marge, his fiance's, lives. But before he even meets Dickie he is already impersonating him once he is mistaken for Dickie by Meredith (Cate Blanchett), who has background knowledge of the Greenleaf family. Tom begins to lust after Dickie, Marge, and his lifestyle, resulting in a tragic fate for Dickie in one of the film's most violently brutal scenes. After this comes the wonder of how he's going to pull off being both Tom Ripley and Dickie Greenleaf at the same time. He writes letters to himself and leaves himself messages all over Europe. At one point Marge and Meredith meet and neither one suspects what Tom is really up to in being two people, particularly at an opera one night. However another murder occurs, and Tom finds himself unable to carry on Dickie's life until yet another startling revelation surfaces. It's amazing to see just what Tom will do to live the life he was never meant to live. What makes this so hard to comprehend is the complexity of the plot and characters. Damon must portray not one but two people at the same time, whereas the other characters have no idea of what is really going on. John Seale's ravishing photography captures the beautiful essence and splendor of late 1950's Italy, enough to make it the next spot on anyone's vacation list. The music score conveys the inner confusion and lost focus of Tom's mind with pounding effect and tone. However the script is weak here and there and it is so easy to forget some scenes that are not emphasized enough and may leave some wondering. Jude Law never looked more attractive or desirable. Gwyneth Paltrow and Cate Blanchett, both of whom were Oscar-nominees for Best Actress (1998-Paltrow won) are an added bonus to the film. It is a very complex yet compelling story that requires strict attention and understanding. Tom's homosexuality is clearly implied and deeply hinted at when he's with Dickie. This picture is another grand achievement from the creators of "The English Patient" and is worth all the wonder and speculation.