Believe It Or Not, Mr. Ripley Gets Meta in ‘A Talent for Murder’ Origin | Review

A Talent for Murder turns Patricia Highsmith’s final years into a meta-thriller in which a young editor tries to persuade her to write one last Tom Ripley novel. Helen Mirren plays the famously abrasive author, whose clashes with the editor become entangled with scenes from the imagined book. The film is entertaining, though it does not fully deliver the polished cat-and-mouse thriller it suggests.

Set in 1995, the story follows editor Edward Ridgeway, played by Alden Ehrenreich, as he visits the 74-year-old Highsmith at her isolated Swiss home. He hopes a new novel will advance his career, while the disappearance of a previous editor adds unease to his mission. Olivia Cooke plays Clementine, a woman whose life echoes that of a character in the proposed novel; a bold third-act twist shifts the film towards questions about art and its makers.