"Ripley" delivers the truth and horror of a psychopath

Patricia Highsmith’s 1955 novel “The Talented Mr. Ripley” has inspired numerous adaptations, the most appealing, until now, director Anthony Minghella’s 1999 film of that title. Despite its grim narrative, Matt Damon as Tom Ripley, Jude Law as Dickie Greenleaf, and Gwyneth Paltrow as Marge Sherwood brought their star quality charm to their roles, moderating the disturbing content.  

Steven Zaillian, the man responsible for directing and writing the screenplay for all eight episodes in the new series “Ripley,” will have none of that. Resisting exploiting sensationalism or indulging melodrama, Zaillian denies Ripley an appealing, charismatic personality, even to his victims. It’s just that Ripley’s manipulative strategies, combined with his indifference to shame or humane behavior, facilitate his perverted ways. Devoid of any social graces, con man Ripley relies on the goodness of others and their inability to imagine his depravity, even when details don’t add up.

Beginning in 1960s New York, the unnerving tale begins with Ripley dispatched by Dickie Greenleaf’s father to Atrani, southwestern Italy, to convince son Dickie to return to the U.S. A conniving Ripley insinuates himself into Greenleaf’s world with tragedy soon developing. Only great actors can sell this complex role. Enter Andrew Scott who created a stir this past year as Adam in “All of Us Strangers,” earning a Golden Globe Best Supporting Actor nomination, along with many other previous stage and screen honors. However, nothing prepared me for his burrowing so intently and disturbingly into the psychopathic Tom Ripley. Never betraying a hint of warmth, his daring performance delivers the chilling reality of a man for whom empathy exists entirely outside his emotional reach. Scott says he found the role “arduous,” an apt description of the experience watching the depraved Ripley engineer his success.

In equally perfect casting, Johnny Flynn plays the aristocratic Dickie Greenleaf, Dakota Fanning is Dickie’s girlfriend Marge Sherwood, and Eliot Sumner is friend Freddie Miles. Yet. Along with an adorable cat, it’s Maurizio Lombardi as Inspector Pietro Ravini who steals every scene as his mispronunciations and his subdued physical reactions complement Ripley’s restraint. Veteran cinematographer Robert Elswit captures all this in sublime black and white compositions, enhanced by superb sound. And watch the dominance of stairs, metaphoric commentary on the climb upward and the descent of central characters. I often cringe at remakes or readaptations. This time I’m ecstatic. The eight episode “Ripley” series is streaming on Netflix.