The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)

Wanting someone else's life badly enough can lead you to do unthinkable things to get it. At a crucial moment in Anthony Minghella's stylish psychological thriller "The Talented Mr. Ripley," Tom Ripley remarks that he feels as if he's been handed a brand-new life. In a sense, he has. Ripley (Matt Damon, in a subtle, layered performance), a poor, clever young man skilled at forgery and impersonation, is sent to Italy by a wealthy shipping magnate (James Rebhorn) to persuade his wayward son, Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law), to come home. Instead, Ripley smoothly insinuates himself into the carefree lives of Dickie and his lovely, trusting fiancée, Marge (Gwyneth Paltrow), dazzled by the glamorous life he's always craved. In time, the full, chilling scope of Ripley's amoral scheme comes to light. Expertly adapted from Patricia Highsmith's acclaimed novel, also the basis for the classic French thriller "Purple Noon," it was writer-director Minghella's impressive follow-up to his Oscar-winning "The English Patient." Re-creating late-1950s Italy in rich detail, the film captures the sensual allure of the good life while building suspense as Ripley's mind begins to crack and his crimes grow more desperate. And where Alfred Hitchcock had to keep the gay undertones of Highsmith's "Strangers on a Train" discreet, Minghella brings them into the open, adding tension and complexity to Ripley's unraveling. Philip Seymour Hoffman, as Dickie's arrogant, suspicious friend Freddie, and Cate Blanchett, as a wealthy young woman Ripley meets under false pretenses, are excellent in key supporting roles. The final image is haunting: Ripley's talents have taken him too far, and this study of class, obsession and deadly desire reaches a disturbing yet fitting conclusion. It earned five Oscar nominations.