The setting is Switzerland, 1995. Two strangers meet on a train. One is Edward Ridgeway (Alden Ehrenreich), a lackey book editor sent by his boss on a fool's errand into the Alps to convince famed author Patricia Highsmith (Dame Helen Mirren) to write a sixth entry in her Ripley series. Dressed in too many mismatched layers, thick glasses, and a perpetually disheveled head of hair, Edward seems entirely out of his element. And yet, like Tom Ripley, he possesses a gift for observation and for revealing facts at precisely the right moment. It's how he immediately earns the good graces of fellow American Clementine Balfour (Olivia Cooke), whom he suspects belongs to an old-money family.

Charmed by one another, the pair divert at the Geneva train station. Along the winding mountain roads, Edward is warned by his taxi driver about the rumors surrounding Highsmith's hospitality. She supposedly poisoned a neighbor's dog, and a previous editor accused her of trying to murder him. As much as Edward attempts to maintain a brave face, Highsmith's behavior upon his arrival does little to dispel those stories. She appears at the window like a ghost, her lips already locked in a tight purse. Ashtrays and bottles of liquor clutter every surface, while her upstairs writing den houses a display case filled with guns and daggers.

Highsmith views Edward as just another boy to toy with, someone who will flatter her in hopes of getting her to sign on the dotted line and revisit the character who has occupied her life for nearly half a century. That fictional creation is the only family or friend she has left, likely a consequence of both her self-imposed isolation and deeply acerbic personality. She is consumed by prejudice, particularly toward the New York literary community, armed with a foul mouth and a steadfast belief that happy people are simply too ignorant to ask enough questions about life.

But, Edward is more than he first appears. Initially determined to be a gracious guest, he eventually decides to meet Highsmith on her own terms. Anxiety and anger become his motivation, while she cackles with delight as the two cultivate a mutually respectful hatred. Ehrenreich and Mirren make for an electric pairing, going toe-to-toe while sinking their teeth into Joanna Murray-Smith's venomous dialogue, adapted by the playwright from her own stage production, Switzerland. When one goes low, the other goes lower, creating a viciously entertaining cycle of cutting insults and morbid observations.

That energy is eventually channeled into something productive: an outline for a potential new Ripley novel. From there, director Anton Corbijn, who has spent much of the decade since his previous feature directing music videos for Depeche Mode and U2, and editor Andrew Hulme begin interweaving dramatizations of that theoretical story with the film's central narrative. Edward assumes the role of Tom Ripley, while Clementine becomes the wealthy young woman he seduces across Italy in pursuit of her family's fortune. Gorgeously shot by Robbie Ryan, these passages are sexy, sharp, and steeped in smoky coolness, drawing more from the chilling edge of Steven Zaillian's 2024 Netflix miniseries Ripley than the lush elegance of Anthony Minghella's 1999 adaptation, The Talented Mr. Ripley. Regardless of the comparison, Ehrenreich inhabits the character effortlessly, concealing Ripley's reptilian coldness beneath considerable attractiveness.

In time, the line between reality and fiction begins to blur, both for Edward and for the audience. The real Clementine reenters the picture, and Corbijn keeps us guessing as to how much Ripley has begun influencing Edward's behavior. He becomes increasingly intertwined with the character, their backgrounds and motivations growing ever more alike. Is it better to become a fake somebody than remain a real nobody? Then again, the distinction between fake and real exists entirely in the eye, and tongue, of the beholder.

It's precisely this sort of slipperiness that made Highsmith the preeminent writer of predators navigating decadent worlds rife with hidden moral corruption. Such ugliness, however, always had to be rendered with elegance, where poison and suspicious accidents became the tools of the trade. A Talent for Murder possesses all of those qualities, combining them into a scintillating package that appeals to our deepest and darkest desires.

This review was originally published from the world premiere at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival. Bleecker Street will release A Talent for Murder in theaters nationwide on October 23rd.