A Talent for Murder, 2026.
Written and Directed by Anton Corbijn.
Starring Helen Mirren, Alden Ehrenreich, Olivia Cooke, Juliet Stevenson, James Faulkner, Brid Brennan, and Maddalena Vallecchi Williams.
SYNOPSIS:
A mysterious young man from a New York publisher is sent to Switzerland to persuade the renowned writer Patricia Highsmith to write one final installment of the Ripley anthology.
Celebrated mystery novelist with a penchant for “beguilingly evil” protagonists, as one character puts it, with the most famous one being the introverted serial killer Tom Ripley (having been adapted and played on screen by multiple actors at this point, perhaps most famously Matt Damon), Patricia Highsmith is such a legend of the genre that the concept of Anton Corbijn’s A Talent for Murder (based on the stage play by Joanna Murray-Smith) is a juicy kind of riveting as soon as it reveals its story within the story premise and its function. That’s not to stone anyone who doesn’t know the author’s name, though simply mentioning Tom Ripley, a cultural pillar of the genre, should be enough to strike a chord and spark intrigue in the unfamiliar.
Depicted late in life (sometime in the 1990s) as a recluse who moved to Switzerland, Patricia Highsmith is played by Helen Mirren as a no-filter curmudgeon with little drive or motivation to write another novel in the Tom Ripley series. Meanwhile, Edward Ridgway (Alden Ehrenreich in what may be his best role since working with the Coen brothers) is a publishing-house editor sent to this verbally abusive layer of hell to coax her into signing a contract to write one more book.
What begins as a psychological battle that wouldn’t be out of place in one of her books, given the astute awareness and observation of her characters, quickly becomes a sharp deconstruction of her storytelling techniques and, well, her knack for writing convincing murder scenarios. Wisely, it’s less about whether Patricia Highsmith was troubled to pen such novels and more about her skills and extraordinary ability to read others (which, to some extent, can only be assumed to be grounded in reality and is a contributing factor to her remarkable success). She insults and dresses down Edward, practically ready to call the police when he fires back about her declining writing quality, before engaging in a different kind of mental warfare that takes other elements from this narrative and flips them upside down into something meta-adjacent.
Without saying much, the two begin outlining a story rooted in Edward’s life and the friendly interaction he struck up with a traveling train passenger, Clementine Balfour (Olivia Cooke), who is set to receive an inheritance one day. Her grandfather and aunt stand in the way, which also becomes the launchpad for Patricia to throw out a scheme and prove she still has it, while pushing Edward to come up with murderous plots on his own and embrace a colder, selfishly ambitious side that may or may not already be within him. Of course, this is also pushed into psychosexual territory as the fictional Edward and Clementine become a pair so he can get close to his targets. This is presented within the previously mentioned story structure, giving Alden Ehrenreich and Olivia Cooke the opportunity to demonstrate further range.
At times, A Talent for Murder becomes so in tune with the sociopathic tendencies of Patricia Highsmith’s best characters and works that the film begins to feel like a lost novel. It has an impressive ability to surprise, leaving one questioning who these characters are and what they are capable of, beyond the fictional plot they’re working on. Admittedly, it goes on a twist or two too long, reeking of not knowing how to end the narrative, but Anton Corbijn clearly understands the author and how to bring out the best elements of her work in this mostly thrilling, tantalizing fiction-meets-real-world concept. That’s a noteworthy talent.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder
