The sun is blinding on the Italian Riviera. You’re watching a young man with a dorky, nervous smile try to convince a group of rich socialites that he belongs there. It’s 1958, or at least the movie's version of it. That man is Tom Ripley. Most people know the Matt Damon movie Mr Ripley as a lush, sun-soaked thriller, but if you rewatch it today, it feels more like a horror story about the American Dream gone totally off the rails.
Honestly, it's kind of wild how much this movie gets right about being an outsider.
The Performance That Changed Everything for Matt Damon
Before 1999, Matt Damon was the golden boy from Good Will Hunting. He was the guy you wanted to grab a beer with. Then director Anthony Minghella cast him as a sociopath. It was a massive risk. Damon didn’t just play a villain; he played a "fake somebody." To get into character, he actually lost about 30 pounds and spent months learning to play the piano. He wanted to look pasty and fragile compared to the bronzed, god-like physique of Jude Law’s Dickie Greenleaf.
There’s this one scene in the Matt Damon movie Mr Ripley that basically sums up the whole film. Tom is in a bathtub, and Dickie is just... there. The tension is so thick you could cut it with a boat oar. It’s not just about wanting to sleep with Dickie; it’s about wanting to be him. To wear his rings, eat his food, and breathe his air.
Damon plays Tom as someone who is constantly terrified of being found out. It's a masterclass in "straying from the truth." You find yourself rooting for him to get away with murder, which is a testament to how empathetic Damon makes a monster feel.
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Why the 1999 Version Hits Harder Than the Netflix Remake
We recently got the black-and-white Netflix series Ripley with Andrew Scott. It’s great, don't get me wrong. But the 1999 Matt Damon movie Mr Ripley has something the new one lacks: heat. The Minghella version is sweaty. It’s colorful. It makes the lifestyle of the rich look so delicious that you actually understand why Tom would kill to keep it.
- The Music: Gabriel Yared’s score is haunting. The "Lullaby for Cain" at the start sets a tone of biblical tragedy.
- The Locations: They filmed in real places like Ischia, Procida, and Rome. That wasn't a green screen. The actors were actually dodging rain in Italy for months.
- The Supporting Cast: You’ve got Cate Blanchett playing a character who wasn't even in the book (Meredith Logue) and Philip Seymour Hoffman being the most deliciously annoying person on planet Earth as Freddie Miles.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Ending
If you’ve seen the movie, you know the ending is a total gut-punch. Tom finally finds a version of happiness with Peter Smith-Kingsley (played by Jack Davenport). But because he’s already built a "basement" of lies, he has to destroy the only person who actually loves him for who he is.
Many viewers think Tom is a cold-blooded killer from the start. He’s not. In the book by Patricia Highsmith, Tom is much more of a career criminal. In the Matt Damon movie Mr Ripley, he’s an opportunist who panics. Every murder he commits is a reaction to his fear of going back to being a "nobody."
The Real Cost of Being Dickie Greenleaf
Jude Law’s performance as Dickie is what makes the tragedy work. He’s magnetic but also incredibly cruel. He uses people and then gets bored of them. When he tells Tom, "The thing with you is, you're a bore," it’s the moment Tom realizes he can never truly be part of that world. Unless, of course, he kills the host.
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Law actually broke a rib during the filming of the murder scene on the boat. They were tossing each other around so hard in that small wooden vessel that he ended up seriously injured. That’s the kind of raw energy they were working with.
Why We Are Still Obsessed With This Movie
The Matt Damon movie Mr Ripley grossed about $128 million worldwide, which was huge for a psychological thriller back then. But its real legacy isn't the box office. It’s the way it predicted our current obsession with identity and "faking it."
In a world of Instagram filters and "curated" lives, aren't we all a little bit like Tom Ripley? We want the shiny life we see on the screen. We want the linen suits and the espresso in the Italian square.
The movie warns us that the price of that life is your soul. Literally.
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Actionable Insights for Your Next Rewatch
- Watch the Wardrobe: Notice how Tom’s clothes slowly shift from ill-fitting corduroy to perfectly tailored Italian silk as he absorbs Dickie’s life.
- Listen for the Jazz: The movie uses jazz as a symbol of Dickie’s "cool" and classical music as a symbol of Tom’s "pretension." When Tom tries to play jazz, it’s a sign he’s overstepping.
- Track the Reflections: Count how many times Tom is seen in a mirror or a window. It’s a visual cue that he’s always looking at a version of himself, never the real thing.
If you haven't seen it in a while, find the highest-quality version you can. Look at the cinematography by John Seale. It’s a film that demands your full attention, not just as a thriller, but as a study of what happens when the "have-nots" finally decide they've had enough.
Take a weekend to double-feature this with the original 1960 adaptation, Purple Noon, starring Alain Delon. You'll see exactly how Matt Damon managed to turn a "perfect" character into someone painfully human. It's the difference between a portrait and a mirror.
Check your favorite streaming platforms for the 4K restoration. The colors of the Amalfi Coast in that version are absolutely life-changing.