The novel shows him annexing the life and identity of a man named Greenleaf. It was filmed in 1960 by Rene Clement as "Purple Noon," with Alain Delon as Ripley, and now it has been filmed again by Anthony Minghella ("The English Patient"), with Matt Damon in the title role. One of the pleasures of the two adaptations is that the plots are sufficiently different that you can watch one without knowing how the other turns out--or even what happens along the way. That despite the fact that they both revolve around Ripley's decision that he can be Greenleaf as well as, or better than, Greenleaf can be himself.
"Purple Noon" begins with the two men already friends. "The Talented Mr. Ripley," adapted by Minghella, has a better idea: Ripley is an opportunist who stumbles onto an opening into Greenleaf's life, and takes it. He borrows a Princeton blazer to play the piano at a rooftop party in Manhattan and a rich couple assume he must have known their son Dickie at Princeton. He agrees.
The Greenleafs are concerned about Dickie (Jude Law), who has decamped to the decadence of Europe and shows no sign of coming home. They offer Tom Ripley a deal: They'll finance his own trip to Europe and pay him $1,000 if he returns with their son. Cut to a beach in Italy, where Dickie suns with Marge Sherwood (Gwyneth Paltrow), and the original deception turns evil.
Remember that Ripley is already impersonating someone--Dickie's old Princeton friend. That works with Dickie ("I've completely forgotten him," he tells Marge), but eventually he wonders if anything Tom tells him is the truth. Ripley, at this point still developing the skills that will carry him through several more adventures, instinctively knows that the best way to lie is to admit to lying, and to tell the truth whenever convenient.
When Dickie asks him what his talents are, he replies, "Forging signatures, telling lies and impersonating almost anyone." Quite true. And then he does a chilling impersonation of Mr. Greenleaf asking him to bring Dickie back to the United States. "I feel like he's here," Dickie says, as Tom does his father's voice.
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