Episode 9—The Talented Mr. Ripley: Summer Is A Verb
“To these people, ‘summer’ is a verb.”
Matt Damon (left) as Tom Ripley, Jude Law (center) as Dickie Greenleaf, and Gwyneth Paltrow (right) as Marge Sherwood, living as expats in the fictional Italian sea-side town of Mongibello. (Paramount Pictures)
“The story isn’t just about wanting to change his class identity—it’s also about his sexual identity. He struggles coming to terms with who he is and who he loves on the same journey.”
Tom and Dickie bond while singing on stage at a jazz club with Fiorella (left) as bandleader Fausto. (Paramount Pictures)
“Jude Law makes Matt Damon look like a pasty stretch of nothing.”
“And that in itself earned him an Oscar nomination. ”
Tom displays his white undercoat on the beach, opening himself up to derision by Dickie. (Paramount Pictures)
Original movie poster from 1999 (Paramount Pictures)
We launch our Summer Series with one of Frankee’s favorite movies in any season: the suspenseful thriller The Talented Mr. Ripley. Based on the novels of Patricia Highsmith, the story set in 1958 follows working class Tom Ripley (Matt Damon) as he sets off for Italy to ingratiate himself with the wayward heir (Jude Law) to a large shipping fortune and bring him home to America. A jazzy, homoerotic, and murderous Mediterranean summer unfolds for the young men among their aristocratic expat milieu, featuring the rising Hollywood stars of the turn of the century: Gwyneth Paltrow, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Cate Blanchett, and Jack Davenport.
The sisters examine the film’s sympathetic anti-hero, chew on different adaptations of this social climbing grifter’s story, and rave about the cast of delicious snacks on the precipice of mega-stardom.
Philip Seymour Hoffman as Dickie’s suspicious friend, party bro Freddie Miles. (Paramount Pictures)
Cate Blanchett as earnest Meredith Logue, Tom-as-Dickie’s friend. (Paramount Pictures)
Jack Davenport as Peter Smith-Kingsley, Tom’s love interest and the film’s #2 snack. (Paramount Pictures)
Show Notes
Film Synopsis
In 1958 New York City, a young working class man named Tom Ripley (Matt Damon) is mistakenly thought to be a Princeton alum by Herbert Greenleaf, who requests that Tom journey to Italy to retrieve his wayward son, Dickie (Jude Law). Tom accepts the offer, thus initiating his twisted ascent into the upper crust of the young, rich, and aimless. With varying success, Tom manipulates Dickie and his friends into accepting a fabricated identity, shirking the life he led before and embracing the expat aristocracy. A story of love, lies, and murder—Ripley’s chameleon talents prove deadly.
The Talented Mr Ripley, directed by Anthony Minghella, story by Patricia Highsmith, edited by Walter Murch. Starring Matt Damon, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jack Davenport, and Cate Blanchett.
References
The Talented Mr Ripley 1955 novel by Patricia Highsmith
Ripley (forthcoming Showtime series adaptation of Highsmith’s Tom Ripley novels)
Breaking Bad (2008-2013)
The Sopranos (1999-2007)
The English Patient (1996)
Shakespeare in Love (1998)
Good Will Hunting (1997)
Gattaca (1997)
Boogie Nights (1997)
Almost Famous (2000)
Punch Drunk Love (2002)
The Wedding Date (2005)
Pirates of the Caribbean (2003)
Plein Soleil (1960)
Interview with Alison Bechdel for goodreads.com
Weekend at Bernie’s (1989)
Sister, Sister (1994-1999)
Sinéad O’Connor’s Lullaby for Cain
Story of Cain and Abel, Book of Genesis 4:1-16
Eugene Onegin - 1879 opera by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky adapting the 1833 novel by Alexander Pushkin
Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)
The Godfather (1972)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Recommendations
Jessee: A Place in the Sun (1951), Younger (2015-2021), and BitCloud cryptocurrency article in The New Yorker
Frankee: Interview with a Vampire (1994) and Bo Burnham: Inside (2021)
Annee: John Steinbeck’s East of Eden (novel) and the 1955 film adaptation
