Directed by Anthony Minghella

Directed by: Anthony Mingella

StarringMatt Damon – Tom Ripley

Jude Law – Dickie GreenleafMarge Sherwood – Gwyneth

PaltrowMeredith Logue – Cate

BlanchettFreddie Miles – Philip

Seymour HoffmanPeter Smith-Kingsley – Jack

Davenport

AwardsOscar nominatedBAFTA winning

Character map

Tom RipleyDickie Greenleaf

Marge Sherwood

Herbert Greenleaf

Meredith Logue

Freddie Miles

Peter Smith Kingsley

Silvana

Connect the characters and explain how they are connected.

Dickie’s d

ad

Princeton classmates

What’s what in The Talented Mr. Ripley

ThemeLiterary allusions

MusicSymbolismCostuming

StructureForeshadowing

Setting

Living a lieTalented 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?

Allu

sio

ns

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 stepOn 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 republicIn 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”?

Allu

sio

ns & MUSIC

Cain & Abel

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.

An aural motif throughout the film is the “Lullaby of Cain”.

When is the song played? And what is the significance?

Siren songA 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.

In Talented Mr. Ripley, who is the siren? Explain your

answer.

Mirrors/reflection

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?

ClothingClothing 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 - StatementE – Example (or explain)X – Explain (or example)E – 2nd ExampleX – 2nd ExplanationY – Your opinion

Musi

cMusic 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?”

Music also

shows

class

divisio

ns.

Tom ge

ts ch

ased off

the piano in th

e opening

scenes, a

nd has to w

atch

the music

from behind a

curta

in. He ca

n only play

at

the garden party

by

pretending to be fro

m Prince

ton.

The rich att

end the opera,

and finally To

m is allo

wed to

attend w

hen he is liv

ing as

Dickie.

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?

ItalyItaly 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 b

ase

ment

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.

Symbolism

Symbols

Music

ItalyThe basement

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 to help you remember it.

Boat scene

Music

Dialogue

Characters

Camera shots

In a group you will be assigned one of these 4 techniques that features heavily in the key scene.

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 1

Key Scene 2

The opening

and closing scenes

Dialogue

Cinema-tography

Characters

Lighting

In a group you will be assigned one of these 4 techniques that features heavily in these scenes.

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 writingPick 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.