REVIEW: ‘A Talent For Murder’ Makes One Spectacular Film

In 1995, Patricia Highsmith, author of the Tom Ripley novels, died at her home in Switzerland after a long illness. Then, in 2015, playwright Joanna Murray-Smith premiered Switzerland, a historical fiction play set in the days before Highsmith’s death. Murray-Smith, along with director Anton Corbijn, have come together to adapt it for the big screen in A Talent for Murder.

Historical Fiction is a tricky genre to tackle, especially when the subject is alive or was alive recently enough that people remember them. People are oddly territorial about celebrities and making sure that their legacy is remembered accurately. Murray-Smith doesn’t appear to be bothered by what others may learn about Patricia Highsmith as a result of watching A Talent for Murder.

Highsmith is widely regarded as one of the most brilliant authors of her time. That doesn’t change the fact that she is also remembered for being incredibly bigoted—with both racist and xenophobic views. Murray-Smith, in writing both Switzerland and A Talent for Murder, doesn’t pull any punches in that regard.

A Talent for Murder remembers Patricia Highsmith for her wit and for her shortcomings.

Still, the film, starring Helen Mirren as an aged Patricia Highsmith, remembers her for her wit, impertinence, and ego in equal measure. Where Switzerland used two actors to build the world around them, A Talent for Murder fleshes out their conversation into so much more and finds a creative, clever solution that lets a bigger production stay fairly intimate.

Edward Ridgeway (Alden Ehrenreich), a man from a New York-based publisher, makes his way to Switzerland to talk the reclusive Patricia Highsmith into writing another novel in her popular Tom Ripley series. On the way, he meets Clementine Balfour (Olivia Cooke), who is traveling to meet her Aunt Peggy (Juliet Stevenson) in hopes of having some of her vast inheritance released to her early.

While Patricia has a reputation for making people, dogs, or any other unwanted visitors simply disappear, Edward needs this contract signed in order to come back. Still, he’s surprised at her absolutely insane obsession with murder, including Tom Ripley’s favorite weapon: knives.

Watching Helen Mirren bring Patricia Highsmith to life is a clinic in character work.

After gaining a small modicum of trust with the older woman, Edward uses Clementine’s name and basic story as he and Patricia begin workshopping a new novel. In that moment, he becomes Tom Ripley and the audience is treated to a story about the mysterious Tom Ripley and his mission to con the Balfours out of their vast wealth, even if it means killing a few people along the way.

From there, A Talent for Murder switches back and forth between Edward and Patricia and their story about Tom Ripley. When Edward is just Edward, he also spends time meeting with the real Clementine Balfour, but it becomes less and less clear if he’s actually interested in her or if he’s simply using her as source material.

Watching Helen Mirren bring Patricia Highsmith to life is a clinic in character work. Unsurprisingly, Mirren has no trouble making her transformation into the pompous, ego-driven Patricia completely believable. It’s easy to get angry at Patricia, and forget that Helen Mirren is under that wig.

Alden Ehrenreich is no Helen Mirren, but he stands next to her instead of being lost in her shadow. His portrayal of Edward as a young, timid professional who finds his hunger is absolutely brilliant. Edward very easily could have become a forgotten player in A Talent for Murder, but Ehrenreich makes him memorable.

The score adds real urgency to the action, mystery, and suspense.

Director Anton Corbijn should also be commended for his clever use of his lead actors. As A Talent for Murder progresses, the line between where Edward ends and Ripley begins to look blurred. It’s something that Patricia notices subtly, and both Mirren and Ehrenreich play into that blur with amazing precision.

Composer Dickon Hinchliffe’s score is very successful. The Tom Ripley action scenes are very effectively usher in mystery and suspense. There’s a real sense of urgency when Ripley knows he’s up against the clock. On the flip side, when Edward sits across from Patricia, the music feels awkward and overbearing, highlighting the bizarre nature of their meeting and Patricia as a person.

There are a few minor pacing issues. Early in the film, it appears as though the majority of A Talent for Murder relies on the same two-actor cast that Switzerland uses. While that may be effective for live theater, it would have been wasted on the big screen.

Fortunately, A Talent for Murder finds better pacing as it progresses and eventually reveals the parallel storytelling that takes up most of the film. Though the two-actor model takes a bit too long to get going, scenes that cut between Edward and Ripley do find their voice by not staying in one setting for too long.

A Talent for Murder is an exceptional film.

The only bigger concern is that the Ripley story is far more interesting than the Edward story. While both Ehrenreich and Mirren are fantastic in their portrayals, Murray-Smith wrote a better Tom Ripley story than she did an Edward Ridgeway story. That’s fascinating because Edward’s story is the backbone for Ripley’s story. Still, scenes involving Tom Ripley are simply more exciting to watch.

Scenes involving Patricia are also very entertaining, and they serve a different function. They provide a look, albeit a fictional look, into the mind of one of America’s most controversial figures of the 20th century. And yet, when Edward leaves her side to go find Clementine, it feels like that scene would be better if it were Tom Ripley instead.

Overall, though, A Talent for Murder is an exceptional film. It takes an incredibly small and intimate play and puts it on the grandest stage of them all: cinema. And still, A Talent for Murder remains small, intimate, and incredibly sincere without compromising the truth of its subject matter for likability. Even more impressive, it does so through the difficult avenue of historical fiction.

A Talent for Murder is a spectacular character study of a fascinating, deeply flawed human who was both unpleasant and brilliant. It blends that beautifully with an intriguing idea for the Tom Ripley novel that never had the chance to be written.

A Talent for Murder releases in theaters on October 23rd, 2026.