The Talented Mr. Ripley is a 1999 American psychological thriller film written and directed by Anthony Minghella, based on Patricia Highsmith's 1955 novel.

This film was released forty years after the adaptation that had been made in 1960, Purple Noon by René Clément with Alain Delon, Maurice Ronet and Marie Laforêt.

In the seaside village of Mongibello, Ripley befriends Dickie and his American girlfriend Marge Sherwood by claiming to be a former Princeton classmate.

Herbert dismisses Marge's suspicions and MacCarron tells Ripley that the police are convinced that Dickie, who had a history of violence, murdered Freddie before killing himself.

[3] Anthony Minghella cast Damon, after seeing his performance in Good Will Hunting, because he felt the actor had the right mix of "credibility, warmth, and generosity" to engage the audience and help them understand how Ripley "thinks and operates".

[4] Minghella happened to see the dailies from a film starring Jude Law, The Wisdom of Crocodiles, that his wife, Carolyn Choa, was producing at the time.

[7] Law gained weight and learned to play the saxophone for his character; he also broke a rib, when he fell backward while filming the murder scene on the boat.

The website's critics consensus reads, "With Matt Damon's unsettling performance offering a darkly twisted counterpoint to Anthony Minghella's glossy direction, The Talented Mr. Ripley is a suspense thriller that lingers.

"[9] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 76 out of 100, based on 35 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

[11] Roger Ebert gave the film four out of four stars, calling it "an intelligent thriller" that is "insidious in the way it leads us to identify with Tom Ripley ...

Beyond being devastatingly good-looking, Mr. Law gives Dickie the manic, teasing powers of manipulation that make him ardently courted by every man or woman he knows".

[13] Entertainment Weekly gave the film an "A−" rating, and Lisa Schwarzbaum wrote: "Damon is at once an obvious choice for the part and a hard sell to audiences soothed by his amiable boyishness ... the facade works surprisingly well when Damon holds that gleaming smile just a few seconds too long, his Eagle Scout eyes fixed just a blink more than the calm gaze of any non-murdering young man.

[14] Charlotte O'Sullivan of Sight & Sound wrote, "A tense, troubling thriller, marred only by problems of pacing (the middle section drags) and some implausible characterisation (Meredith's obsession with Ripley never convinces), it's full of vivid, miserable life".

[16] James Berardinelli gave the film two and a half stars out of four, calling it "a solid adaptation" that "will hold a viewer's attention", but criticized "Damon's weak performance" and "a running time that's about 15 minutes too long.

"[19] In his review for The New York Observer, Andrew Sarris wrote, "On balance, The Talented Mr. Ripley is worth seeing more for its undeniably delightful journey than its final destination.

[20] In his review for The Guardian, Peter Bradshaw wrote, "The Talented Mr. Ripley begins as an ingenious exposition of the great truth about charming people having something to hide: namely, their utter reliance on others.

[21] In her review for The Village Voice, Amy Taubin criticized Minghella as a "would-be art film director who never takes his eye off the box office, doesn't allow himself to become embroiled in such complexity.