Love, Hate, and Death in "The Talented Mr. Ripley" Quiz

Answer: Dickie and Peter

Tom is gay, obviously. The movie is saved from being anti-gay by the Peter Smith-Kingsley character, who is perhaps the most likeable person in the movie.

Answer: Marge for sure, and probably Silvana, too

Even though he mistreats both women, Dickie does seem to love them. He seems to love his men friends (fleetingly sometimes), too, but Dickie is not gay.

Answer: Tom (posing as Dickie)

Meredith falls for "Dickie" (Tom) partly because she thinks they are two peas in a pod--spoiled rich kids who despise their wealthy families but can't live without their wealth and position. Ironically, Tom isn't like this at all (plus, he's gay).

Answer: himself, primarily, and some woman in Rome, possibly

Freddie seems very full of himself. Of course, he doesn't quite deserve to have his head bashed in with a stone bust. At one point he mentions that he has a lover in Rome.

Answer: Tom

It's Peter's misfortune that he falls in love with Tom (who's psychotic, presumeably).

Answer: He's very tender to her "when their heads are on the pillow."

Plus he's handsome, charming, and seems to love her, too.

Answer: Freddie, because he is jealous of F's friendship with Dickie

Viewers have to admit that Freddie is not at all likeable. He's a loud-mouthed, self-important, snobbish jerk. He teases Tom, too, which is one reason he ends up dead. (I'm not condoning murder, of course!)

Answer: No one that we know of

Like I said, Peter is the most sympathetic character in the movie.

Answer: during their meetings in Rome and Venice

When Marge first sees the new, spiffed-up Tom in Rome, she probably starts to wonder, subconsciously, if he's up to something. She grows more and more sure of this as time goes by, though she can never quite figure out what Tom has done. (Who could? He's a master criminal.)

Answer: He resents Tom and Dickie's friendship.

He also thinks Tom is a low-class mooch (and he isn't exactly wrong). Even though Tom is evil, viewers find themselves sympathizing with him when it comes to Freddie.

Answer: Dickie gets her pregnant and she drowns herself.

Being an unmarried mom in a staunchly Catholic country in the 1950s was no joke. Even in the U.S. it would have been a tragedy.

Answer: He bludgeons Dickie to death in a motorboat. The murder is not premeditated.

The two get into a fight after Dickie tells Tom he does not want to be friends with T anymore. Dickie begins taunting Tom, and one thing leads to another.

Answer: for all of these reasons

Tom starts pretending to be Dickie even before he meets him (when Tom first meets Meredith at the baggage claim area). In fact, from the very beginning he pretends he went to Princeton (or doesn't deny it when Dickie's parents assume he did). Tom is ashamed of being just plain Tom Ripley, piano tuner and men's restroom attendant.

He adores the classy, cultured trappings that wealthy people enjoy.

Answer: by doing all of these things

In fact, Tom falls in love with Dickie.

Answer: All of these are true.

Little does she know that two-faced Tom calls her "the Marge problem."

Answer: It's premeditated, but it might not have happened if Freddie had not been so persistent.

Freddie wants to find Dickie, and he's annoyed when Tom says D isn't home. Freddie is also annoyed to find Tom still around at all. If Freddie had simply gone away, Tom probably wouldn't have killed him, but F finds out from the landlady that "Dickie" IS home. Who knows if Freddie actually puts two and two together and figures out that Tom is posing as Dickie.

Answer: Tom kills Peter to prevent a meeting between P and Meredith

When Tom meets Meredith onboard the ship, he realizes he'll have to kill Peter because M still believes he is Dickie. If Peter finds out that Tom has been posing as Dickie, he'll figure out that Tom killed Freddie and Dickie. Whew! Tom is really sad about killing Peter, though. Peter certainly deserved better!

Answer: They both love classical music.

After Tom kills Dickie, he reverts back to his love of classical piano. Peter is apparently in Italy to study and perform classical works. Unlike most of the young Americans (Dickie, Freddie, and co.) Peter seems to be a serious, hardworking person.

Answer: Penelope Cruz

Gwyneth plays Marge, Cate plays Meredith, and beautiful Stefania Rocca plays Silvana. Penelope Cruz was in "Vanilla Sky" with boyfriend Tom Cruise.

Answer: Ben Affleck

Matt Damon plays Tom (a departure for the hunky star, who reportedly bulked down for the role), Jude Law plays Dickie (beautifully, in my opinion), and Phillip Seymour Hoffman plays the hateful Freddie excruciatingly well. Ben Affleck is Damon's screenwriting partner and longtime friend from Massachusetts.

They co-wrote and co-starred in "Good Will Hunting" which won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay and rocketed both writer/actors to stardom. Affleck was also in "Shakespeare in Love" and "Pearl Harbor."