| Synopsis | On the night of his artist friend Derwatt's first hugely popular exhibition.
Tom meets the gorgeous HELOISE. Straight after the opening Derwatt crashes his car into a tree and dies. Tom persuades his friends to keep the death a secret until the paintings sell. When the works are almost all sold, Tom persuades his other friend, Bernard, to continue to work in Derwatt's style so they can sell to make lots of money. Things go well until an American dealer called Murchison believes that he has a fake Derwatt, and wants to meet the artist. Tom meets Murchison in Heloise's French chateau and acts like he's Derwatt. When Murchison doesn't buy it Tom kills him and buries his body. A couple days later, Webster, of Scotland Yard, questions Tom. He smoothly talks his way out of it, but Bernard then freaks and tells Webster everything. Meanwhile, Tom buries Murchison's body and secretly puts
Derwatt's body in his car. As the police trail Tom he crashes into a tree.
The car burns, with Derwatt's dead body inside. Tom is rescued and tells Webster that his friend Derwatt was an unlucky passenger. All the evidence is in place. Webster doesn't believe Tom, but he has no choice.
Based on Patricia Highsmith's eponymous anti-hero Ripley, Tom is played by
Barry Pepper and also stars Willem Dafoe, Claire Forlani, Jacinda Barrett,
Alan Cumming, Tom Wilkinson, Ian Hart and Douglas Henshall.
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