Directed by Anthony
Minghella
Directed by: Anthony Mingella
Starring
Matt Damon – Tom Ripley
Jude Law – Dickie Greenleaf
Marge Sherwood – Gwyneth
Paltrow
Meredith Logue – Cate Blanchett
Freddie Miles – Philip Seymour
Hoffman
Peter Smith-Kingsley – Jack
Davenport
Awards
Oscar nominated
BAFTA winning
Character map
Connect the characters and explain
how they are connected.
Dickie Greenleaf
Tom Ripley
Herbert Greenleaf
Marge Sherwood
Princeton
classmates
Freddie Miles
Meredith Logue
Peter Smith Kingsley
Silvana
Theme
Literary allusions
Music
Symbolism
Costuming
Structure
Foreshadowing
Setting
Living a lie
Talented Mr. Ripley explores the
psychological and societal
effects of living a lie.
In groups answer these four
questions .
• How does Tom live a lie? (Eg. What
helps him to live a lie?)
• What lies does he tell?
• What are the effects of living a lie?
(On him and others.)
• What film techniques get used to
help portray this theme?
Macbeth
Shakespeare’s play follows Macbeth who hears a prophecy
that he will become king of Scotland, and his fellow general
Banquo will be the father to a line of kings.
His wife pressures him into killing the king and becoming king
himself. This one murder leads to a series of murders
to cover up his crime. He also has Banquo killed.
Both Macbeth and lady Macbeth are plagued by
nightmares, visions and guilt for their actions. Macbeth
is finally killed and Lady Macbeth commits suicide.
What to
look for
Themes of the play Macbeth are the
psychological damage of crime, the
dangers of overvaulting
ambition and the risks of
living a lie – much like TMR.
Macbeth features symbols like
bloodshed, apparitions,
nightmares, clothing.
Macbeth is accused of wearing
“borrowed robes” and having
“overvaulting ambition.”
Tom Ripley use a quote from Macbeth to
analyse Dickie’s writing, “Stars hide your
fires” it comes from Act 1 S4:
The prince of Cumberland! That is a step
On which I must fall down, or else
o'erleap, For in my way it lies. Stars,
hide your fires; Let not light see my
black and deep desires. The eye wink at
the hand, yet let that be Which the eye
fears, when it is done, to see.
Pick one allusion to Macbeth
which features in the film and
explain why this is significant.
(An example could be the “borrowed
robes”, the above quote, the thematic
parallels of “over vaulting ambition” or
living a lie.)
Plato’s republic
In Plato’s philosophical work, “The Republic” he describes people who have
lived chained to the wall of a cave all of their lives, facing a blank wall. The
people watch shadows projected on the wall by things passing in front of a fire
behind them. The shadows are as close as the prisoners get to viewing reality.
He then explains how the philosopher is like a prisoner who is freed from the
cave and comes to understand that the shadows on the wall do not make up
reality at all, as he can perceive the true form of reality rather than the mere
shadows seen by the prisoners.
Tom Ripley’s
“basement”
references
Plato’s Allegory
of the Cave. While
in the cave, the
people cannot
escape the fake
world they
believe to be real.
Think/pair/
share.
How is this similar
to Tom’s
“basement”?
& MUSIC
An aural motif throughout the film is the
“Lullaby of Cain”.
Cain & Abel are the sons of
Adam and Eve and the first
murderer and first human
to die.
Cain committed the first
murder by killing his
brother. No motive is given
in the narrative for the
murder although
commentators have
typically assumed that the
motive was driven by
jealousy.
Cain & Abel
A number of times in the film, particularly the boat scene,
we hear a chorus of singers which brings to mind the
sirens of mythology.
The sirens were supposed to lure men to their deaths at
sea through their beautiful singing. Once the men were in
their charms, the sirens would turn into monsters and
murder the men.
Siren song
In Talented Mr. Ripley, who is
the siren? Explain your answer.
Mirrors and reflection are used throughout the film
to symbolise Tom’s duplicity (treachery,
betrayal, deceit) and duality.
What are three examples of mirrors
or reflection that are used in the film,
and what do these show us?
Clothing
Clothing comes to symbolise the
difference between the life Tom has
and the one he wants. They
represent disguise and class.
Tom feels that if he wears the right
clothes he’ll become Dickie.
“Borrowed robes” – Macbeth.
“The clothes make the man”.
Right from the start Tom is fooling
people through what he wears….”It
started with a jacket”.
What are 3 other examples of
where clothes play a symbolic
role in the film? Pick one of the 3
and explain its symbolism.
Pick either clothing or mirrors and write a paragraph
answering this question:
How is symbolism used in Talented Mr. Ripley?
Be sure to use your paragraph structure.
S - Statement
E – Example (or explain)
X – Explain (or example)
E – 2nd Example
X – 2nd Explanation
Y – Your opinion
Music
Music has multiple
layers of meaning in the
film.
Jazz • It provides Tom with
his intro into Dickie’s
life. Tom learns “My
Funny Valentine” and
memorises jazz
musicians.
• It also symbolises the
generation gap.
Herbert describes
jazz as “insolent
noise”.
• Represents sexual
freedom. Tom can’t
tell if singers are
“male or female”
and Tom uses a
jazz metaphor to
question Dickie –
“sax or drums?”
Minghella uses music as
a way to comment on people.
Dickie is said to hate opera “you
couldn’t drag Dickie to the opera”,
while Meredith Logue is perfectly
comfortable there.
What else is significant about that
opera scene?
Italy
Italy doesn’t just provide the setting for the film. It’s also
symbolic of a number of ideas.
In post world war two, Italy represented “La Dolce vita” or the
good life. It was where people from Britain and America went to
escape and live a life of wine, food, music and no responsibility.
Both Dickie and Tom use Italy as a way to reinvent themselves
and live a fake life.
The basement
The basement metaphor is used by Tom to show us the damage
of living a lie.
Tom talks about being “stuck in the basement” where it’s
“dark”. The basement is a metaphor that Tom uses to describe
how trapped he is by his own lies. He thought he could escape
the basement when he left with Peter, but then discovered he
couldn’t escape it.
While the basement is dark, Italy, Dickie and the life Tom wants
are filled with light.
Music
Pick two of the five symbols
and explain what they show us
about the theme of living a lie?
Ensure you provide an example
from the film.
Draw a picture of the symbol
Symbols
The
basement
to help you remember it.
Italy
Key Scene 1
In a group you will be
assigned one of these 4
techniques that
features heavily in the
key scene.
Music
Camera
shots
Boat
scene
Characters
Dialogue
Identify as many
examples of your film
technique and explain
what they reveal about
the themes, characters,
plot etc.
Why is this scene
important to the film?
Key Scene 2
In a group you will be
assigned one of these 4
techniques that
features heavily in
these scenes.
Dialogue
Lighting
The
opening
and closing
scenes
Characters
Cinematography
Identify as many
examples of your film
technique and explain
what they reveal about
the themes, characters,
plot etc.
Why are these scene
important to the film?
Production techniques - costuming
Minghella uses costuming to indicate a number of things
through his use of dark vs light clothing. In your books
write down as many ideas for each side as you can.
Dark
Light
Brainstorm all the techniques that
build to this theme
Living a lie
Paragraph writing
Pick one technique we have looked at so far and explain it’s relevance
to the film, using the SEXEXY structure to answer it.
Your paragraph could begin: Director Anthony Minghella uses
symbolism in Talented Mr. Ripley to….. Or Directory Anthony
Minghella uses the mirrors as a symbols to ……
The techniques we have looked at so far are:
Symbolism – Music, clothing, Italy, The basement, Mirrors.
Literary allusions – Macbeth, Plato, The Sirens and Cain & Abel.
Costume – light and dark.
Music – Cain & Abel in key scenes plus Sirens in murder scenes.
Camera shots – in key scenes, close ups, panning, spiral camera in nightmare
scenes.