A Talent for Murder Review
In A Talent for Murder, literary agency employee Edward Ridgeway travels to Switzerland to persuade novelist Patricia Highsmith to write another book featuring Tom Ripley. The film turns this tense meeting into a story within a story, but the review argues that the device drains suspense from both plots.
Helen Mirren and Alden Ehrenreich give the film a strong adversarial dynamic, with Ehrenreich also playing a character in the imagined novel. Olivia Cooke, the Swiss locations, costumes and production design are praised, while the film is criticised for lacking surprise. Directed by Anton Corbijn and adapted by Joanna Murray-Smith from her play Switzerland, it opened in cinemas on 22 October.
In short
- Edward is sent to Switzerland to persuade Highsmith to write another Ripley novel.
- The story within a story weakens the film’s suspense.
- Mirren and Ehrenreich’s performances and the production design earn praise.