A Talent for Murder was one of my most anticipated films at TCFF this year, and it wound up among my top three favorites. It stars the esteemed Dame Helen Mirren as American thriller writer Patricia Highsmith in her later years. Best known for Strangers on a Train and the Tom Ripley series, the 74-year-old author lives as a recluse in a secure Swiss bunker.

As a nod to her debut novel, the film opens and closes with a train scene. In the opening, Edward Ridgeway (Alden Ehrenreich) is traveling from New York City to Switzerland. Highsmith’s publisher has tasked Ridgeway with persuading her to write one more installment in her celebrated Tom Ripley series. Along the way, he meets a beautiful young woman, Clementine Harriet Balfour (Olivia Cooke), and sparks fly between a pair of strangers on a train.

This is the fifth feature film by Dutch photographer-turned-film director Anton Corbijn (Control, A Most Wanted Man); he’s far more prolific in directing music videos and documentaries for bands such as U2 and Depeche Mode. The script is written by Joanna Murray-Smith based on her own 2014 play titled Switzerland.

Edward isn’t exactly welcome at Highsmith’s home, and he suspects things won’t end well for the publisher’s last book agent. Her spiteful manner is intimidating enough, but she also proudly displays her treasured collection of knives in her study. Mirren clearly relishes playing an unabashedly misanthropic, cunningly manipulative, prickly recluse who delights in tormenting her unwelcome guest. Though I know Highsmith is an antisocial hermit, her brazenly offensive, bigoted comments are still shocking to hear—an unmistakable attempt to push people away. Mirren gives the juicy role tremendous swagger, delivering cutting lines and scathing glares with effortless aplomb.

Ehrenreich is quite effective here, playing a dual role. When we first meet Edward, the young editor is nervous about meeting the novelist—and with good reason. Highsmith takes sadistic pleasure in playing psychological mind games, repeatedly exploiting Edward’s insecurities to humiliate him. Since the film is largely a two-hander, it’s entertaining to watch the actors feed off each other. Their diabolical exchanges are often droll and amusing, giving the movie its pitch-black comedic tone.

Highsmith tells Ridgeway that she’ll write the book if he can come up with a brilliant final murder. They start imagining the last Tom Ripley novel, building an explicit fantasy set in Rome and centered on a wealthy heiress named Clementine. Edward slips into the fantasy, smoothly transforming into a confident, suave, Ripley-esque killer. Ehrenreich and Cooke share a sexy chemistry, and she falls into his trap almost immediately. It’s a shame Ehrenreich isn’t British; at 36, he’d surely make a fine James Bond.

Corbijn’s direction is stylish, blending reality and fiction with ease. Shot on 35-mm film by DP Robbie Ryan, the movie has a wonderfully tactile, rough-edged look. Its visuals sharply distinguish the claustrophobic drama inside the house, which represents reality, from the sweeping outdoor action featuring the imagined characters. The house-bound scenes carry Hitchcockian tension and a dark, brooding mood, as Ryan uses intimate extreme close-ups to capture the shift in the actors’ expressions. For the fantasy world of Ripley-esque Edward and his target, Clementine, Ryan widens the frame as they move through iconic Roman settings, including the Spanish Steps and Piazza del Popolo. The score by Dickon Hinchliffe complements the action well.

Mirren is absent for much of the Roman fantasy sequences, but Corbijn keeps the momentum going. In the fictional storyline, Edward serves as an extension of Highsmith, allowing her spirit to linger on screen. The scenes inside the lavish home of Clementine’s wealthy aunt, Peggy (Juliet Stevenson), are full of intrigue. Peggy stands between Clementine and her inheritance, making her an obvious target for Edward, who craves her money and high-society status. One of the most indelible scenes features Edward with Peggy’s best friend, Kathryn Grierson (Brid Brennan). It’s a quintessential Highsmith moment: only a master impostor can spot another, and the unspoken bond between the two con artists is unmistakable.

Though Highsmith is decidedly an unpleasant character, Mirren’s performance is a delight to watch. Ultimately, Highsmith is a tragic figure who considers an ordinary, mundane death from illness beneath her. She’s so consumed by her obsession with Tom Ripley that she’d rather be virtually killed by the beloved creation of her own imagination. Even though we know it’s all happening in her head, the final scene is still riveting.

Corbijn crafts a sleek, sophisticated thriller, taking a two-hander stage play and transforming it into a visually arresting, beautifully cinematic, and wickedly twisted adaptation.

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