This adaptation of Patricia Highsmiths Ripleys Game is dominated by the electric interplay of Bruno Ganz and Dennis Hopper. Ganz plays Jonathan Zimmermann, a picture framer with a terminal medical condition. Through a series of encounters and machinations, he accepts money to kill a criminal in order to support his family after his death. He is aided by Tom Ripley (Hopper), an art forger. Unbeknown to Jonathan, Ripley is behind all the plans. However, the criminal and borderline sociopaths feelings towards Jonathan eventually change and he feels a responsibility to take care of his new friend. Wenders neo-noir is a far cry from the previous adaptation of a novel featuring Highsmiths most famous character. Ren Clments Plein Soleil, a 1960 adaptation of The Talented Mr. Ripley was all sun and glamour. (As was Anthony Minghellas 1999 version.) Wenders take on the third novel in the Ripley series which also used an element of the plot from the second, Ripley Under Ground is grittier. And in Dennis Hopper, Ripley is a far more unsettling figure. The actor allegedly arrived on set high as a kite and was not the easiest person to work with. But his performance exudes a menace that Hopper would later develop into the terrifying presence that is Frank, the psychopath who dominates David Lynchs Blue Velvet. Ganz, by contrast, plays Jonathan with a subtlety that makes his transformation as the story progresses all the more unsettling. Their odd-couple relationship is the lynchpin of the film, one of the few adaptations of her work that Highsmith admired.