Mr. Ripley Is So Talented, He Can Make People Believe He is Dickie By Telling Them He Is Dickie
Matt Damon wearing Jude Law’s slippers is still Matt Damon.
Tom Ripley is so talented he can “impersonate practically anybody”. But in stealing the identity of Dickie Greenleaf, he doesn’t make much use of this talent. Instead, he “tricks” people who have never met Dickie into thinking he is Dickie — simply by telling them that he is Dickie.
Sometimes Tom Ripley puts on Dickie’s clothes too, and this definitely helps, because no hotel receptionist would ever accept that some guy checking in as Dickie was actually Dickie if he was also wearing a corduroy jacket.
He can’t trick Freddie though. Freddie has met Dickie. Freddie can see that Matt Damon wearing Jude Law’s slippers is still Matt Damon. So now Tom Ripley is forced to use his much more practical talent, which is bludgeoning people to death.
Tom Ripley can bludgeon people to death with all kinds of things. Oars. Suspiciously gaudy busts. And whatever he used to kill that one girl¹ Dickie was cheating on Marge with. And if he can’t find something to bludgeon with, Tom Ripley can kill with his bare hands too, because he’s that talented.
Speaking of being talented, have you seen him do an impression of Dickie’s father? Pretty spot on, no? Unfortunately, this particular talent doesn’t help him much, since he isn’t trying to steal Dickie’s father’s identity. He can technically do an impression of Dickie too, if just saying the same words that Dickie said is something we are willing to accept as an impression.
But even these repeated words can’t fool Marge, because she has also met Dickie. Marge doesn’t look at Matt Damon wearing Jude Law’s rings and think “Whoa! Did Matt Damon just turn into Jude Law?” Marge looks at Matt Damon wearing Jude Law’s rings and thinks “Wow. Matt Damon is a weirdo. And I think he might be kind of into Jude Law.”
As it turns out, one of the only people Tom Ripley can trick is Meredith. Meredith has an impressive talent of her own, which is unexpectedly showing up everywhere that Ripley/Dickie is. But luckily for Ripley, Meredith has no problem believing Ripley is Dickie, because she has never actually seen Dickie. So, once again, the only tool Ripley has to pull out of his impersonation toolbox is saying “Hey, I’m Dickie.”
And this works for a while until Meredith refers to Ripley as Dickie in front of Peter. Peter is someone who has met both Ripley and Dickie, and Ripley was dating him because he thought that would all work out somehow. So now Ripley is in a pinch, and, once again, he is forced to use the only talent that has ever proven truly useful. Back to bludgeoning…
- I know the movie never confirms that Tom Ripley was responsible for her death. It just really outdoes itself trying to imply that.
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Amy Greenlee is the Editor of Pause Button and Gospel of Jest. You can find her on Medium and Twitter. (She has not yet watched the Andrew Scott Ripley remake, so shhhh, no spoilers.)
