"Tom is one of those people who takes advantage of people. He's taking advantage of Dickie."
— Marge Sherwood
Ripley is a 2024 Psychological Thriller TV series created by Steven Zaillian (of Schindler's List and The Night Of fame). It is an adaption of The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith (part of her Ripliad). It stars Andrew Scott as Tom Ripley, Johnny Flynn as Dickie Greenleaf, Dakota Fanning as Marge Sherwood, Eliot Sumner as Freddie Miles and Maurizio Lombardi as Pietro Ravini.
Set in The '60s, it follows the titular Tom Ripley as he is paid to journey to Italy in an attempt to convince a rich man's son to return home. Murder, lies and fraud soon follow.
It aired on Netflix on the 4th April, 2024.
Compare to the two previous adaptions of the same novel: 1960's Purple Noon and 1999's The Talented Mr. Ripley.
Ripley contains examples of:
- Actor Allusion: John Malkovich plays the character of Reeves Minot in the show. He played Tom Ripley in Ripley's Game (2002), and he even says he likes Ripley's name in the trailer (though in the actual show he says that about an alias he's given Ripley).
- Adaptational Early Appearance: Reeves Minot appears in the final episode. He's a major character in the rest of the books in the Ripliad, but doesn't appear in The Talented Mr. Ripley (which this series is adapting).
- Adaptational Expansion: Unlike the novel (which never leaves Tom's perspective), the series shows things such as Ravini's investigation and Marge finding out that Dickie's boat was sold.
- Adaptational Name Change: The fictional Italian town of Mongibello from the book is replaced by the real Atrani in the show.
- Adaptational Nationality: Freddie Miles, American in the novel, is British in the show.
- Adaptational Sexuality: Freddie Miles has a male lover in the show, while the books don't suggest he's anything other than straight.
- Affably Evil: Tom is almost always unwaveringly polite, regardless of the despicable actions he commits.
- Ambiguously Gay: The series only shows Tom having implied attracted to men (such as Dickie and the men on the Sanremo beach). This, along with the fact that it lacks his inner monologue from the book which presents him as Ambiguously Bi (even to himself), means that Tom is ambiguously gay in the series.
- Artistic License: When talking to the police in Venice, Thomas states that his address is Calle Sella Rota 8. Not only does this street not face any canal (unlike his rented palace), but in Venice, houses are not numbered separately street by street, but continuosly throughout each of the six main city districts (sestieri). In reality, there could be no Calle Sella Rota 8, since in the area of sestiere Dorsoduro where the street is located, the house numbers are in mid-800s. An authentic form of address would be, for example, Dorsoduro 858, Calle Sella Rotta.
- Brief Accent Imitation: Tom imitates Dickie's accent several times across the show, and also briefly imitates Freddie's.
- …But He Sounds Handsome: Tom is an excellent conman and consummate liar, but his biggest weakness is that when impersonating someone else, he can't help but talk up "my friend Tom Ripley."
- Clark Kenting: Inspired by the Caravaggio paintings he's been seeing, Tom attempts an incredibly audacious tactic in an interview with Ravini. After meeting him several times in his Dickie persona, Tom meets Ravini in his own identity. To trick Ravini into not recognising him, Tom uses a wig and subtle fake beard, wears a suit and uses his own mannerisms. Combined with the Caravaggio-esque dim and misleading lighting, he actually manages to get away with it.
- Cross-Cast Role: Nonbinary performer Eliot Sumner, who was assigned female at birth, plays cis male Freddie Miles.
- Deliberately Monochrome: The entire series is in black and white, which emphasises the Film Noir nature of the adaptation, and its thematic use of light and dark.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Based on his smile when dreaming about him, Tom does have at least some genuine fondness for Dickie, which is more than he shows to any other character. But that doesn't stop him from killing Dickie and stealing his identity.
- Fake-Out Make-Out: A very dark example, as Tom avoids the suspicion of a passer-by during a tense moment by kissing the corpse of Freddie Miles, which he is currently trying to dispose.
- Film Noir: Between the conman protagonist who's willing to murder those who get in his way and the filming of it in Deliberately Monochrome, this dark, gritty thriller can certainly be classed as Film Noir.
- Freudian Slip: At one point, Tom accidently refers to himself in the third person. He's so used to impersonating Dickie that it's strange for him to return to his true identity.
- Not So Stoic: Tom shows rare genuine frustration when editing Marge's book due to the tiresome prose, and when he remembers that he left Freddie's passport on the body.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: When integrating himself in Dickie's circle, Tom deliberately puts on a more bland and vapid persona, often replying with just "yeah" or "sure" in conversation.
- Running Gag: Staircases, and Tom's (and Ravini's to a lesser extent) struggle with them.
- Sequel Hook: In the final scene, Inspector Ravini receives a copy of Marge's published book, which includes a dedication to Richard Greenleaf and a photograph of him — which he instantly recognises as not the man he met as Dickie.
- Stepford Smiler: Tom puts on a small smile almost constantly around Dickie and Marge, which rarely reaches his eyes. Marge does much the same whenever Ripley's around, always smiling, but with a look in her eyes that shows utter contempt.
- Truer to the Text: Than the film The Talented Mr. Ripley, which made Tom more sympathetic and Dickie more of an unrepentant asshole. The series, like the book, introduces Tom as a con-man who premeditates the murder of Dickie, while Dickie's worst sin is being a slightly-selfish trust fund kid.
- Villain Protagonist: Tom lies, commits fraud and murders, he certainly isn't a hero.
"Someone is dead in Rome and Signore Ripley is missing. This is the situation."
