User Reviews

The perfect Tom Ripley. No doubt, a verdict influenced by my full subjecty about Andrew Scott but, not being familiar with the novels from Ripliad series ( only with adaptations ), easy to appreciate the coldness of Tom Ripley created, with precise science of detail , by Andrew Scott.

Three good points - the stairs and cinematography, Eliot Sumner as Fredie Miles and lovely performance of Dakota Fanning.

And fair crafted tension at level of dialogue, the option for mature Tom being well used for exploration of each nuance.

In short, wise crafted episode , first for smart architecture of silence, looks and expressions.

Now the action takes place in Italy ,not in Mongibello,but in another small sea resort ; the luminous landscapes of italy in black and white ? It works quite well for ,behind the dolce vita, a vague menace creeps ; see Tom's despising look upon Madge 's body ,lying over Dickie's.

The architexture of the places with its cavernous stairs which lead to Dickie's and Marge's dwellings ;the attitudes become apparent : Marge considers Tom an intruder whereas the boy born silver spoon in hand ,whose friends are few, is looking for a pure friendship ; there's a certain ambiguity ,even on his part, but such was the case in Highsmith 's words .

Tom pretends to appreciate Dickie's mediocre paintings though ,and it's even more obvious in other Ripley books , the self-taught crook will reveal himself a genuine art connoisseur .

This somber atmosphere sharply contrasts with the luminous lanscapes of the 1959 "plein soleil " ( which means "full sun") ; the youthful handsome Delon ,who was the writer's favorite Ripley (she said that Dennis Hopper in "der Amerikanische Freund "was not MY Ripley )was ideally cast in this context even though his joie de vivre was thwarted by a cruel joke of a nastier Philippe (Dickie) ; thus Scott's more mature and mysterious look is better applied on the black and white cinematography.

Late Italian fifties songs are included and contributes to the dolce vita atmosphere ; the singer whom Tom gazes into may reveal his bisexual nature ;once again Highsmith never reveals his sexual orientation :she only mentions ,in her other books that ,though married to a rich heiress, Tom only occasionally sleeps with her ;even in "the boy who followed Ripley ",she kept things vague)

All promises of the first episode fulfilled .