Ripley is yet another adaptation of the Patricia Highsmith novel “The Talented Mr. Ripley” after several other efforts through the years, among which the most notable ones were perhaps the French film “Purple Noon” starring Alain Delon in the early 1960s and the Anthony Minghella version of 1999 with Matt Damon. Despite much of the story events taking place on the sun-drenched Amalfi coast, Italy, the Netflix series looks and feels stark and much darker.
Ripley is a Modern-Day Hitchcockian Thriller
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Tom Ripley is a young, solitary con man living in 1960s New York. As part of a case of mistaken identity, he ends up getting hired by a rich magnate, Herbert Greenleaf, to go to Italy and convince his son Dickie to return to New York. Once in Atrani, Tom fakes a chance encounter with Dickie and his girlfriend, Marge. They are drawn together quickly despite Marge’s distrust of Tom. Later, Tom confesses to Dickie the arrangement with his father, which ends up bringing the two even closer.
This is, in essence, the basic setup for a string of complicated interactions between Tom, Dickie, and Marge, later joined by Freddie Miles, a wealthy friend of the couple who takes an immediate dislike of Tom. Tom, in turn, becomes ever more obsessed with Dickie and his lifestyle. Dickie´s nonchalance begins to wane and turn into uneasiness, while Marge grows more suspicious and apprehensive by the day. This is when you know that duplicity, deceit, fraud, and murder are all but inevitable.
This Series is as Much a Character Study as an Exploration into the Darker Recesses of the Soul
During the slow-burn narrative of “Ripley,” you can’t help getting pulled not only into this era and place but also into Tom Ripley’s psyche. It is not liking or feeling some kind of empathy for the character; it is more like an understanding of his circumstances and how the awful, cruel machinations of this monster kind of make sense. “Ripley” forces us to contemplate this cold, hard reality as if, on some level, we are almost accomplices to Tom´s crimes.
The artistic decisions made by Steven Zaillian, coupled with Andrew Scott’s acting, are pure genius. Zaillian has been behind titles like “Schindler’s List” and “Gangs of New York” and also directed “Searching for Bobby Fischer” and “All the King’s Men” while Andrew Scott is a seasoned award-winning actor known for the TV series “Fleabag” and the films “Spectre” and “1917.” Both of these men are on top of their game in what has been appropriately dubbed a “neo-noir psychological thriller.”
I Did Not Binge on This, But I Am Certainly Itching for Another Season
I think “Ripley” is somewhat hard to watch at first, probably because of how unusual black-and-white photography is these days but also because of its pace. But once you pass these hurdles, the rewards are enormous. Then you will begin to notice that every camera angle, every sound, every object, and every reference shown to you is purposeful. Like the Caravaggio painting that can be fully seen when Tom Ripley flicks a light that can only be operated by a slot machine.
“Ripley” May Be Breaking New Ground in Modern Storytelling
This series is a tasty treat for all of those who love intrigue, suspense, and film noir. But it is not a repackaging of the old canon; it does have some modern elements to it, like the way objects, spaces, works of art, and even animals seem to form an integral part of the main character’s silent stream of consciousness. Perhaps I’m reading too much into it, but what is sure is that the eight-chapter series is like a box of exquisitely wrapped bonbons, all delicious and all unequivocally dark.
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