Many people remember the 1999 film The Talented Mr. Ripley because it starred Matt Damon, somewhat fresh off his breakout ride Goodwill Hunt, as a young sociopath. They also remember Gwyneth Paltrow sunbathing on the Amalfi Coast and the saturated colors used in the film. A new version of Patricia Highsmith’s novels is now available in limited edition on Netflix series, written and directed by veteran screenwriter Steven Zaillian.
RIPLEY: Stream it or ignore it?
Opening shot: A ticking clock. Then we see a bunch of other clocks, inside and outside. “ROME, 1961.”
The essential: A man drags a body up the many stairs of a building. A cat is watching. Then we hear a voice say, “Who is there?” The man pauses, then continues dragging the body up the stairs.
“SIX MONTHS EARLY.” Tom Ripley (Andrew Scott) lives in his one room in New York. He makes his living by scamming people out of their money. He does this by stealing checks from a chiropractor’s office, posing as a collection agency, informing customers who wrote the checks that they are late on payments, and collecting the payments (with interest ) sent to his post office box.
Stopping for a drink at a bar during his dark existence, he is approached by a private detective named Alvin McCarron (Bokeem Woodbine); the detective’s client, a wealthy shipbuilder named Herbert Greenleaf (Kenneth Lonergan) is looking for him for undisclosed reasons. “You’re a hard man to find,” McCarron tells Ripley.
Tom ignores the card the detective gives him, but begins to think about it again when he discovers that the IRS has come to the house where he lives and that when he tries to cash checks for his fake collection agency, the bank reports them.
When he goes to see Greenleaf, the shipbuilder tells Tom that he is the only one of the people his son Dickie (Johnny Flynn) knew in college who responded to him. He needs someone to go to Naples, Italy, to convince Dickie to come back to New York; he lives as a “writer” and “artist” thanks to a trust that Greenleaf regrets having established for him. Because he cannot legally terminate the trust, Greenleaf needs other means to get Dickie to listen to him.
Tom accepts and heads to Naples; Once he arrives at the village where Dickie lives – which takes hours by bus – he lugs his bags to a local inn and asks where Dickie lives. He climbs what seems like hundreds of steps to get to Dickie’s villa, then is told he is on the beach. After purchasing a new tight swimsuit, he finally “stumbles across” Dickie, sunning himself with his girlfriend, Marge Sherwood (Dakota Fanning).
Dickie invites him to the villa, and as the three of them talk, Tom likes the lifestyle Dickie lives. The view of the Mediterranean, the boat he has anchored offshore, the beautiful girlfriend… It doesn’t seem like Dickie is having any trouble. Tom goes to the nicest hotel in town and makes a decision: he wants Dickie Greenleaf’s life.
What shows will this remind you of? Ripleywritten and directed by Steven Zaillian (The Irishman, Schindler’s List), is based on the novel by Patricia Highsmith The Talented Mr. Ripley and his subsequent novels. A cinematic version of The Talented Mr. Ripleystarring Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Cate Blanchett and Philip Seymour Hoffman, was made in 1999. The character of Ripley has also appeared in films like Midi purple, The American friendAnd Ripley’s Game.
Our opinion : While the late Anthony Minghella, director of the 1999 film, envisioned Tom Ripley’s story as a colorful, sunny tale of identity theft and murder, Zaillian’s vision of the story is pure noir. Shot in black and white, as he thought Highsmith would have wanted; it lingers on scenes, plays with light and shadow, liberally uses menacing music throughout, and certainly plays on the sinister nature of Tom Ripley and his plan.
Andrew Scott’s version of Ripley is certainly older and more world-weary than Matt Damon’s, and Scott is fantastic at playing the sociopath. Although he tones down his British accent in favor of a very flat non-regional American voice, it works for his character as he plays Ripley as this guy who doesn’t have much to say and can absorb life and personality of someone like a sponge. a spill of wine.
There is a bit of ironic humor in Ripley this belies his story, and it seems like Zaillian is taking every opportunity he can to explore this aspect of the story. Tom groans and grimaces as he runs up and down the steps to Dickie’s villa, and grumbles when he sees even more stairs. His interactions with the manager show that he is going to have a lot of communication problems. He becomes visibly ill as the bus he is on follows the curves of a mountain road. Given how dark the series is, these lighter moments help balance things out a bit, but it doesn’t make Tom seem any less like a sociopath.
It’s hard to read Flynn as Dickie and Fanning as Marge at the moment; for now, they both seem like overprivileged Americans ripping as much culture out of their location as possible. There are definitely hints that Marge is wondering who Tom is and why he suddenly appeared, but they’re only hinted at in the first episode.
Normally, we’d be annoyed by Zaillian’s deliberate pacing with this story. But here we understand the purpose it serves, especially in the early episodes. He wants to show Tom as a small man with an even smaller life, whose claws barely allow him to keep a shabby roof over his head and the government on his back. The first episode establishes him and the literal lengths he’ll go to to find his next victim. Between that and the noirish style, the slower pace makes sense.
Sex and skin: None in the first episode, other than the sight of Andrew Scott in a tight swimsuit.
Starting shot: Tom looks in the mirror and says, “Yeah, that’s right, Dickie, Dickie Greenleaf.” Nice to meet you too.”
Sleeping Star: We’ll give this to Dakota Fanning because we just know that Marge is going to become very skeptical of Tom as he gets closer to Dickie.
Most pilot line: On the train to Naples, Tom writes a scathing letter to his aunt, telling her that she no longer needs to spend her life criticizing him. While he does this, we see a woman who is supposed to be the same aunt undergoing what looks like brutal dental work. Is Tom imagining this dental work or is it actually happening?
Our call: Spread it. We admit that Ripley starts a little sleepy. But we’re intrigued by Scott’s take on Tom Ripley and by Zaillian’s decision to give Patricia Highsmith’s story a noirish patina.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and technology, but he’s under no illusions: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.comFast Company and elsewhere.
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