In 1955, the American writer Patricia Highsmith traveled through Europe. And on that extensive trip that she paid for with the income she obtained from the film adaptation of her book “Strangers on a Train”, filmed by Alfred Hitchcock, she gave birth to a new character, one that would accompany her for more than thirty-five years: the Notorious murderer Tom Ripley.
The first time he appeared in a book was in “The Talented Mr. Ripley.” There, he was a shy and young New Yorker, who receives the strange but tempting task of billionaire Mr. Greenleaf, to convince his son Dickie to abandon his hedonistic life in Italy and return to the United States. The author would not return to this character until after twenty years, in 1970, when she recovered him with the novel “Ripley’s Mask”, in which he appears married to a rich heiress and converted, at least apparently, into a respectable man.
But Tom Ripley, of course, is not exactly a respectable man but an unscrupulous sociopath, a man of humble class who is obsessed with climbing socially, a seducer, cultivated and elegant, a lover of Bach and Oscar Wilde. Of ambiguous morals, he is a man who seems willing to take revenge on those who, he believes, enjoy a life they do not deserve: he kills for a kind of social justice. And he deceives, deceives and deceives.
The book was made into a film in 1999 by Anthony Minghella, with a luxury cast: Matt Damon, Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow. Titled “The Talented Mr. Ripley”, it received five Oscar nominations, although it ultimately did not win any statuette.
Now, Tom Ripley returns, but in series form. The Tom Ripley of the series is Andrew Scott (remembered for his role as a priest in the wonderful “Fleabag”). The bon vivant who is in Italy and whom he must convince to return is played by Johnny Flynn, and Dakota Fanning will be Marge Sherwood, the woman who lives in Italy and suspects that behind Tom’s affability there are darker motives.
Filmed in black and white, the direction and script were done by Steven Zaillian, known for his work on “Schindler’s List”, “The Irishman” and “American Gangster”. The premiere of the eight chapters is scheduled for April 4, on Netflix.