Twinkly-eyed Irish actor Andrew Scott might at first seem an unusual choice for the latest incarnation of Tom Ripley,the suave murderer created by American crime novelist Patricia Highsmith. But Scott,the sixth actor to portray Ripley on screen (and a producer here),does a chillingly good psychopath.
Andrew Scott is chilling as Tom Ripley.Netflix
This eight-part series,written,directed and executive produced by Steve Zaillian,best known as the writer ofSchindler’s List,follows the same story as Anthony Minghella’s 1999 hit filmThe Talented Mr Ripley,in which a young Matt Damon played Ripley.
This iteration,though,sticks more closely to the source,the first of Highsmith’s Ripley series.
We first see Ripley scraping by as a paranoid grifter in early 1960s New York,barely a step ahead of being caught,when he’s tracked down and hired by a wealthy industrialist to travel to Italy and convince his layabout son Dickie (Johnny Flynn) to come home.
Dickie,who lives on a sizeable trust fund,has been lazing around the Amalfi Coast painting and writing,despite no discernible talent in either discipline,and his dad (Kenneth Lonergan) is fed up.
Dakota Fanning as Marge,Johnny Flynn as Dickie and Andrew Scott as Tom inRipley.Netflix
Ripley accepts tickets and a handsome paycheck,and on finding Dickie and his equally wealthy slacker girlfriend Marge (Dakota Fanning),is enamoured of their lifestyle,an infatuation that rapidly descends into obsession.
Aesthetically,this is a world away from Minghella’s sun-drenchedRipley. Zaillian says his version,shot entirely in black and white,was inspired by a black and white image on the edition ofRipleyhe read,and the fact that “movies were basically all black and white in 1955” – which isn’tstrictlytrue,but he felt a noir aesthetic was fitting.
From the outset,it’s a choice that creates a colder,more spartan imagining,and many of the shots in which the camera lingers – on medieval alleyways,religious artworks,seaside vistas – resemble silver gelatine photographs.
Shot on digital cameras,it’s a starker vision than traditional film noir,but no less stylish. Veteran cinematographer Robert Elswit (The Night Of),uses measured tracking scenes,carefully composed shots framed through doors,windows and shelves,and more stairwell shots than Hitchcock’s entire oeuvre.
And the mood is as cold as those marble stairs. When Ripley introduces himself to Dickie and Marge,the pair recline on a deserted beach on what doesn’t look like a particularly clement day;cafes and shops seem mostly empty,and even in the background,it seems nobody is enjoying themselves. There’s barely a smile in the entire series.
Even when trying to ingratiate himself with Dickie,Scott’s Ripley never looks terribly friendly,and as the series goes on,he grows more disquieting,his often blank expression more menacing than any frown.
Almost every shot inRipley is carefully composed.Lorenzo Sisti/Netflix
Where it was implied that Ripley was gay in Minghella’s film,here his sexuality is ambiguous,and his obsession with Dickie the more sinister for it:there is no passion behind his actions.
The pacing of the series might test the patience of some;a couple of episodes almost take place in real time. This works to create terrific tension in some instances,but in others – particularly scenes in which we follow Ripley doing his (admittedly criminal) admin – it can almost be as tedious as doing one’s own banking.
But Scott’s performance – and he is in almost every scene – is outstanding. You may never think of him as again.
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