The Talented Mr. Ripley

The Talented Mr. Ripley is a novel by Patricia Highsmith, published in 1955. It is also the title of a 1999 feature film based on the novel and directed by Anthony Minghella.

Variations to the plotline used in the films

Both the 1960 and 1999 films follow Highsmith's plot very closely, but in the 1999 screenplay, Minghella made some subtle changes, and introduced characters to complicate Ripley's dilemma.

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In the novel, Marge is frumpy (described as having a "gourdlike figure") and insecure and she may be one in a line of flings and women used by Greenleaf. As portrayed by Marie Leforet in Plein Soleil and Gwyneth Paltrow in The Talented Mr. Ripley, she is a more compatible counterpoint to Greenleaf, and both films suggest in several scenes that Greenleaf's feelings for her are genuine.

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The 1999 film differs somewhat from the novel and the earlier film in its portrayal of Ripley: While the Ripley character in the novel and in Plein Soleil has some sympathetic qualities, he is primarily an opportunistic psychopath with no qualms about committing cold-blooded murder whenever it suits him; as portrayed in Minghella's film, however, he is an almost tragic figure motivated by his own self-hatred and not completely immune to guilt. This characterization received a certain amount of criticism, particularly from Highsmith fans.

Related Topics:
Psychopath - Tragic - Guilt

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The 1999 film also explores Ripley's fascination with Greenleaf as more overtly sexual. While this is alluded to in the novel, the film expands upon Ripley's feelings of jealousy and inadequacy, and creates greater tension between the characters.

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The motivation for the murder of Greenleaf is treated quite differently, although the setting is identical. In the film, Ripley kills Greenleaf in a moment of rage after being mocked and rejected by him. He then quickly covers his tracks in his opportunistic manner. In the novel and in Plein Soleil, the murder was premeditated, with Ripley planning each detail in advance and then carrying it out.

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Minghella created one character and modified another to provide Ripley with additional complications. Meredith Logue is an American heiress who is bored by her family's wealth but quite content to spend the money. She meets Ripley shortly after his arrival in Italy, and he introduces himself to her as Greenleaf. With their shared contempt for their families, she feels she has found a kindred spirit in Ripley (as Greenleaf), and the two have a romance of sorts. Her presence in Rome causes Ripley problems when he is with Marge, as Meredith, who knows him only as Greenleaf, keeps appearing at inopportune moments.

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At the film's conclusion Ripley is travelling on an ocean liner, having escaped detection for his murders, when Meredith once more appears, by coincidence, in his life. As he appraises her, the audience is left to wonder if she is in danger, but as she is with a crowd of people he leaves her alone. Returning to his cabin he meets with Peter Smith-Kingsley, a very minor figure in the novel whose role is expanded for the film. Their conversation suggests that he and Ripley have become lovers, and as they talk, Ripley strangles him. He muses despondently shortly before killing Smith-Kingsley that his lies about who and what he is have left him lost and alone forever; he sobs as he commits the murder.

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The ending of Plein Soleil, meanwhile, is significantly different than that of the novel: In that film, Ripley is finally caught as Greenleaf's body is discovered, tangled in the anchor of the boat that Ripley had murdered him on.

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