| Director | Liliana Cavani |
|---|---|
| Genre | drama film, film based on a novel |
| Runtime | 110 min |
| Country | Italy, United Kingdom, United States |
| Budget | $30 million |
| Box office | $6.2 million |
Tom Ripley is involved in an art forgery scheme in Berlin, in partnership with the British gangster Reeves. Learning that Reeves has attempted to cheat him, Ripley forces Reeves's client at gunpoint to give him the money intended for the forgeries and kills the man’s bodyguard. He steals back the artwork for himself and tells Reeves that their partnership is over.
Three years later, Ripley is living in a villa in Veneto, Italy, with his wife, Luisa, a harpsichordist. He is invited to a party by a neighbour, Jonathan Trevanny, an art framer who is dying of leukemia. Ripley overhears the host, Jonathan insulting his taste and alluding to his shady reputation. He confronts him and leaves.
Reeves arrives at Ripley's home, to Ripley's annoyance, and asks him to eliminate a rival mobster. Ripley recommends Trevanny for the job as revenge for the slight. Believing Trevanny to be an assassin, Reeves offers him the job for a large fee. Bewildered, Trevanny eventually agrees, to make sure that his wife and son are provided for after his death.
Trevanny travels to Berlin under the pretense of seeing a leukemia specialist and kills the mobster at a museum. He refuses Reeves' offer of more money to kill another mobster, this time on a train, but relents after Reeves threatens his family.
Trevanny freezes on the train and contemplates suicide. Ripley intervenes and the two dispatch the target and his two bodyguards in the train toilet. They return home, where Trevanny attempts to persuade his wife Sarah that he won the money playing roulette.
Reeves ignores Ripley's warnings to keep a low profile, fearing that the mafia will seek reprisal for the killing and deduce who was involved. The mobsters come to Italy seeking revenge, killing Reeves and leaving his body in the boot of their car. They storm Ripley's villa, but Ripley has boobytrapped it. With Trevanny's help, Ripley kills them all.
Ripley leaves Trevanny under the assumption that all the killers have been dispatched. However, Trevanny returns home to find two surviving gangsters holding Sarah captive. Ripley spots the killers' car outside in the bushes and doubles back to Trevanny's to save Sarah. A wounded assassin fires at Ripley, but Trevanny sacrifices himself by jumping in front of the bullet.
Puzzled by Trevanny's selflessness, Ripley tries to give Sarah her husband's share of the blood money, but she spits in his face. When he leaves Sarah, the packet of money is still on the floor. That night, Ripley attends Luisa's concert as if nothing has happened, but smiles at the memory of Trevanny's sacrifice.