A Talent for Murder

Gleefully macabre murder was the hallmark of high priestess of crime Patricia Highsmith, but this new biopic (with plenty of invention thrown in!) sees the author herself doing the bloody plotting. Adapted from Joanna Murray-Smith’s stage play (soon to bring Berlin to Kiln’s theatre), Highsmith is played deliciously by Helen Mirren, while she lives in dissolute Swiss exile. Editor Edward (Alden Ehrenreich) is sent to encourage her to add another entry to her famous Ripley novels. Yet when they start weaving the story together, murder on the page and in real life start to merge…

Mirren is the rare actress with enough gravitas and skill to bring a ‘warts and all’ portrait of Highsmith to life. A Talent for Murder makes the most of a confined setting to build a tightly plotted thriller worthy of the writer herself.