Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Hello, my friends, and welcome back to Movie Deputy Reviews, where we are going deep into an interrogation today as we are talking about the movie about Patricia Highsmith. Now, if you are a literary fan, you know the name, or at least you know the name Tom Ripley from the Ripley ad. Now, this movie, A Talent for Murder, is about Patricia Highsmith.
Now, though this movie is largely based on many things in her life, there are definitely parts of this movie that were fictionalized.
Does it fit her whole personality, Persona of kind of everything that's going on?
Likely.
But you'd really have to know who the person was to understand this movie.
It's. It's a very intellectual movie. And like I said, if you are a literary fan of Patricia Highsmith, you are going to get a lot more out of this movie than somebody who, let's say, is not familiar with her works.
Now, it just like, are you familiar? If you're familiar with the Ripley ad, specifically the five books about Tom Ripley, then you'll understand a little bit more of kind of what's going on here. I do have to appreciate on this one, though, the fact that there were many things about Patricia Highsmith's life that it left out of.
Sorry. That left out of this. This movie could have gone really woke very quickly, and surprisingly, it didn't. There are many things about her life that easily they could have taken it in that direction, and I was very happy to see that they did not go in that direction. Now, does that mean it's not woke at all? Not completely, but it's not. It's not like where it's bashing you in the face, like, woke, woke, woke, woke. Where it's just like, this is our agenda and this is what we're gonna push down your throat. No, they focused on her and they focused on the story, which I can greatly appreciate. I am giving A Talent for Murder a Guilty rating because of. Much of the content of this movie is just too much for younger audiences. It's like, it's a very intellectual film. Unless you're a very intellectual person focusing on those details, you're. You're gonna miss a lot of what's in this story.
I was saying that that does. That is going to limit its audience a bit because this is.
This movie is not for everybody.
And it's. There's gonna be those that see it that's gonna give this, like, this is gonna be, like, the best movie they've ever seen. But if you're not into that literary crowd, it's gonna be a lot Harder to take away from. Take that away from. Take it away from that.
And though it's still entertaining, even if you're not a literary person, that you're not gonna understand the nuances as well.
Check out the trailer and then we're going to get a little bit more into the story itself. And of course you get the score, as always.
[00:02:53] Speaker B: Are you frightened.
[00:03:16] Speaker A: Now, as this is opening? It's a very subtle. But you're. You can just feel the heaviness of the movie even in the trailer. If you're. If you're listening on the podcast. Thank you, of course. But come on over here to our YouTube. Check out this trailer. Or just look it up yourself if you want to. Just watch the trailer by itself on YouTube. But the. It just opens and it has this very heavy nuance to it.
And Patricia Highsmith is a crime writer. So you're just getting that just really heavy sense even just as this begins.
Shop.
[00:03:50] Speaker B: Shop.
[00:03:51] Speaker A: Horror. Ms. Highsmith, I'm Edward Ridgeway from the publishers.
[00:03:56] Speaker B: I know who you are.
[00:03:59] Speaker A: My colleague went before me and no one's heard from him since.
[00:04:01] Speaker B: Why did they send you?
[00:04:02] Speaker A: I volunteered.
[00:04:03] Speaker B: Really?
[00:04:04] Speaker A: One minute he's on the phone babbling about a knife, and then he just vanishes.
[00:04:08] Speaker B: Shop. Shop.
[00:04:09] Speaker A: Cara. One more masterpiece.
[00:04:11] Speaker B: I am not revisiting. Ripley.
[00:04:13] Speaker A: I can help you.
[00:04:14] Speaker B: What would you know about murder?
[00:04:16] Speaker A: The female of the species is more deadly than the male.
[00:04:22] Speaker B: I'll give you one night to show me if you can inhabit the mind of a killer.
Rome. He's at the opera. Intends watching her will.
[00:04:37] Speaker A: What's her name?
[00:04:38] Speaker B: You tell me.
[00:04:40] Speaker A: Clementine. Harriet Balfour.
[00:04:42] Speaker B: Ah.
She has a family trust that will go to her on the death of her great aunt. She's destined for money, our young man.
[00:04:55] Speaker A: Excuse me, signorina. I think you dropped this.
[00:04:58] Speaker B: Has found his mark.
[00:05:02] Speaker A: I like a bit of mystery in a guy.
So how does he kill the great aunt?
[00:05:08] Speaker B: You kill her.
What?
[00:05:10] Speaker A: Shock, shock, harah.
Were you in my room last night?
[00:05:15] Speaker B: Were you frightened? Mr. Richway, we all have a dark side.
One day you'll be looking in the mirror and there he'll be, the devil smiling back at you.
I made you breakfast. If I'm motivated, I can really deliver.
[00:05:42] Speaker A: Cooking or murder, As you can see. This really goes deep into that.
It is just. It's almost Bond esque in the story that is being told.
What you have here is you have a literary agent traveling to Switzerland, which is where Patricia Highsmith was living at her later years of her life.
And her publisher really wants one More book. And so they're trying to get her to agree to just one more book.
And she's really reluctant. She just doesn't know if she has it in her, but she just.
She just doesn't really want to do it. And so this literary agent, she basically makes a deal with him that he has to come up with this plan.
And so what plays out here in the movie is two separate stories. You have the story going on at the agent and with Patricia, and then you have the story that he is telling or that he is. That she is inspiring him to come up with. And you're also watching that play out on screen. So you're watching two completely different stories play outside by side are intertwined. It's not like two different things, but it's how this plays out is. Like I said, it's a very intellectual story. You have to be fully aware that what the who, what and who are which and where as this is going. And it's not like I said, it's not going to be for everybody, but it is. It's stunning in its intellectuality. This one draws you in and you are just. You're drawn into these characters and it's easily to forget that you're watching Helen Mirren playing Patricia Highsmith. I normally don't focus on the actors, but she is typically this sweet actress that you just see on all of these amazing, just really deep plots. But you don't see her as like a crime writer or this deep, almost psychopath.
And here she plays that off so well that it's just, like I said, it's easy to forget that it's her. Usually you were literally drawn into like you were. You were watching Patricia Highsmith on screen instead of like, watch. You're not watching an actor portray actress, portray her, you're watching her.
And like I said, they really could have gone a bunch of different directions with this, but I'm so glad they didn't and they stayed. Like, there are parts of this that are fictionalized, that were exaggerated, dramatized of sorts.
But there is just this depth to these characters and this depth to the story that is portrayed that it just kind of draws you in.
If you like literature, I'm assuming this is a book by a talent for murder. I'm assuming that again, I never read the books of this was. I'm not sure.
But if you are, if you were ever a fan of Patricia Highsmith or the Ripley ad, then you have got to go see this. This is definitely a must see. If you are if you love intellectual movies that just draw that out and just kind of draw you in and just wow. It's where it's just a wow factor, then you've got to see this movie. If you are, if you, if you need that action that, where everything's kind of going on in like a rapid fashion to be entertained. This one's not going to be for you.
But if you, if you like the more in depth dramas, this, there's something special here.
So you're probably wondering where I'm at on the Deputy scale. Well, I might surprise you on this a little bit. I'm coming in at a. On a talent for murder at a 6.25 out of 10 on the deputy scale.
Now you're probably thinking, wait, why? Well, a 6.25 means good story, some flaws, and a 7 if I'm between 6 and 7. And a 7 is memorable and plot with questionable content.
This definitely has plot with some questionable content, but it's a very slow burn and it's almost too slow to give it a full seven. But I couldn't just give it an even six. That's why I came up just a little bit to 6.25 on that one.
Again, I am giving this a guilty rating just because of the content.
This is definitely not for.
I don't, I don't even know if younger viewers would even technically understand what's going on here, but it is, it is a very intense story.
So if, if you are into stories like that, then this is going to be one that you're going to want to check out. If not, I hope that this helps you save the money that the ticket would cost, but ultimately I honestly do recommend it. So if you are having as much fun with these reviews as I am. And of course I'm always having fun as I interrogate these movies for their plot and their content.
I'm looking deep into the, not just the storyline itself. It's like I look at the plot and kind of look at the characters in the story. Like you completely forget you're watching these actors and actresses playing these parts. You think you're, you feel like you're watching these, these actual people play out, play this out. Like it's like as if it was a real story instead of just a movie.
There are those movies that just draw you in where it feels so real you're just left going, wow. And then there's other ones that are just so fake. You're just like, wow.
So I mean, wow can go a lot of different directions on that one, but if you haven't done so already, please click like and subscribe. And turn on that little notification bell to get the latest and the greatest Movie Deputy content. And I will be back with another one for you soon. See you later guys. Bye.
