A Talent for Murder

Patricia Highsmith probably would have detested A Talent for Murder, and that’s a compliment to this speculative portrait of a fictional chapter in the life of the notoriously misanthropic author.

A masterfully modulated portrayal by Helen Mirren drives this twisty period drama, an incisive exploration of creative process and artistic inspiration through the lens of a writer reluctantly forced to confront the relationship between herself and her characters.

In 1995, Edward (Alden Ehrenreich) travels from New York to Switzerland on behalf of a New York publisher. His goal is to meet an aging Highsmith and convince her to sign a contract ensuring another entry in her series that began 40 years earlier with the classic suspense thriller The Talented Mr. Ripley.

She’s drowning herself in alcohol in an alpine chalet, either oblivious or indifferent to the fact that her output has waned. Edward arrives knowing that she’s a recluse who hates visitors and is rumored to have poisoned her neighbor’s dog. The bouquet of flowers he’s carrying isn’t likely to help his cause.

Highsmith enjoys being offensive and obstinate with a dismissive tone that forces Edward to prove himself worthy of engaging in her psychoanalytical mind games.  “Happy people are just people who don’t ask enough questions,” she snarls.

After a while, it’s less about Edward winning her approval and more about simply surviving the weekend. As they spar back and forth, reality and fantasy start to blur with a prospective tale involving a woman (Olivia Cooke) that he met earlier on a train.

Mirren communicates as much through body language and facial expressions as via dialogue, digging beneath Highsmith’s cantankerous demeanor and condescending glare without making her an easy target for sympathy. Ehrenreich (Solo) conveys an enigmatic charisma.

Familiarity with the author’s work helps fill in some contextual gaps for moviegoers that the film doesn’t always provide. Meanwhile, Dutch director Anton Corbijn (A Most Wanted Man) captures some lovely exterior mountain scenery amid the appropriately chilly surroundings.

Based on a stage play, the screenplay isn’t as compelling or provocative when it ventures outside of the framework of a two-handed chamber piece, sacrificing some of the claustrophobic tension in the process.

As for Edward, he’s no Tom Ripley, but he makes a worthy protagonist in A Talent for Murder — even if the film never quite rises to the level of its true-life muse.

Rated R, 106 minutes.