Matt Damon’s Ripley is a fan-favourite. How does Netflix’s spin hold up?

(This article contains spoilers for the Netflix drama Ripley).

A cold-blooded killer-in-waiting, Tom Ripley appears in five Patricia Highsmith novels. And ever since the first, The Talented Mr Ripley, was published in 1955, the character has fascinated filmmakers and provided a juicy role for actors.

Andrew Scott as the eponymous Thomas Ripley in Netflix’s eight-part drama based on the Patricia Highsmith novel, The Talented Mr Ripley.Credit: Netflix

First came heartthrob Alain Delon in René Clément’s Le Plein Soleil (Purple Noon, 1960), and numerous other interpretations have followed. They include Wim Wenders’ The American Friend (1977), based on the second novel, Ripley’s Game, which has Dennis Hopper in a Stetson, running art-world scams and involved in dirty deeds in Germany. And Anthony Minghella’s lush 1999 adaptation of the original book, with Matt Damon offering an all-American-boy interpretation of the psychopath. Now comes screenwriter, director and producer Steve Zaillian’s suspenseful, visually stunning and stylistically inventive eight-part Ripley (Netflix), based on the first novel and starring Andrew Scott.

The various versions of Ripley’s deadly games reflect the sensibilities of their makers and, arguably, also reflect the temperaments of their times. In which context, Zaillian’s striking, high-contrast black-and-white production seems perfect for a period marked by bitter division.

He has said that he went for monochrome because “the edition of the Ripley book I had on my desk had a black-and-white photograph on the cover” and also because he couldn’t imagine the sinister story taking place “in a beautiful Italian setting with bright blue skies and colourful outfits”.

While Minghella managed to make a memorable film doing just that, Zaillian (The Night Of, but probably best known for his collaborations with Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese) “didn’t want to make a pretty travelogue”. His early 1960s Italy, from the coastal town of Atrani through to Palermo, Rome and Venice, is notable for its eerie, sparsely populated streets and squares.

The opportunistic Ripley (Andrew Scott, right) regards Marge (Dakota Fanning) and wealthy heir Dickie Greenleaf (Johnny Flynn) as easy targets for his pernicious scheme. Credit: Netflix

Zaillian has described Scott as an “actor of enormous range”, citing his charm as the “hot” priest in Fleabag and his menacing turn as Moriarty in Sherlock. His Ripley is softly spoken and spookily self-contained, smooth as glass and cold as ice. Invariably polite and superficially mild-mannered, he’s a loner most at ease in his own company.

His steady gaze is reptilian in its alertness as he preys upon Dickie Greenleaf (Johnny Flynn) and his girlfriend, Marge (Dakota Fanning), enjoying their luxe, languid life. They’re ripe targets for Ripley’s hustler who’s introduced living in a shabby New York boarding house, running low-level scams to survive. His golden opportunity arises after a wealthy businessman (Kenneth Lonergan) hires him to entice his wayward son to come home. After tracking down Dickie, Ripley finds himself seduced by the would-be painter’s lifestyle. He wants a piece, or preferably all, of it for himself.

A quick learner, Ripley slips easily into the good life, soaking it up like a sponge: learning the language; absorbing tips on art and wardrobe choices. Outwardly calm, he’s a chameleon and a constantly alert predator: “I’m not someone to take advantage of people,” he lies to Dickie. The heir to his father’s fortune is so comfortably and complacently settled into his trust-funded existence that little unsettles him. Marge, however, is more wary, becoming convinced that Tom is gay. But while homoerotic undercurrents certainly abound, the abiding impression of Tom is as a wily, sexually ambiguous opportunist. When it comes to the unsuspecting couple, his goal is to win their trust and then pry them apart, to create uncertainty, rock the boat and benefit from the disruption.

Cate Blanchett and Matt Damon in a sunnier version of the story in Anthony Mighella’s 1999 film The Talented Mr Ripley.

Impressively, Zaillian conveys this without explanatory dialogue. It’s all there in the impassive, unnervingly intense expression on Scott’s face, the steady watchful gaze that quickly sizes up all that it surveys. A wonderfully creepy scene has him trying on Dickie’s clothes, imitating his voice and rehearsing a break-up with Marge.

But it’s also there in the way that the camera lingers on coveted objects: an admired fountain pen, an expensive ring, a Murano glass ashtray, a Picasso painting, Ferragamo loafers. Textures come vividly alive: waves rippling in the sea; gnarled tree trunks; creases in linen shirts; curls of cigarette smoke.

Robert Elswit’s stunning cinematography, with its crystal-clear, superbly composed and rendered deep-focus images shades everything with a sense of danger. An Oscar-winning cinematographer who’s worked with Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights, Magnolia, There Will be Blood) and shot George Clooney’s period drama, Good Night, and Good Luck in velvety black-and-white, Elswit repeatedly frames Ripley in windows, doorways and alleyways, a character in perpetual transition.

The evocative imagery is combined with an equally inventive and sometimes deliberately intrusive soundscape: typewriter keys clacking; shoes clomping on stairs; thunder rumbling; birds fluttering; water dripping; ice cubes cracking. Heightening the atmosphere of unease, this symphony of everyday sounds is keenly attuned its environment but also accentuated, creating the impression that the world is closing in around Ripley, a sensation appropriate for a man who’s constantly alert and for a killer being hunted.

Zaillian’s gripping account of Ripley’s progress also is pierced by bursts of black humour: an out-of-control boat chaotically zipping around following a gruesome murder; an Italian policeman grappling with English spelling and pronunciation; the endless stone stairwells.

In that playful spirit, in a nod to previous portrayals of Highsmith’s amoral hero, the final episode introduces shady art dealer Reeves Minot, who doesn’t appear until the second novel, and casts John Malkovich, who plays the title character in Liliana Cavani’s 2002 adaptation of that book.

An exquisite tension runs through Zaillian’s beautifully crafted series. And, as with Highsmith’s diamond-sharp novels, it manages to make a viewer almost complicit, creating a keen curiosity about how the protagonist might escape detection and wondering – if not quite hoping – if he’ll get away it.

Even as Ripley repels, he invites engagement and a sneaking respect for the extent of his guile. His art is the way he goes about his nefarious business. Maurizio Lombardi, who plays police Inspector Ravini, has described his scenes with Scott as being like a chess game between the characters, with the lines of dialogue representing their moves.

It’s a thoroughly entertaining game. If not a little unsettling.

Ripley is on Netflix.

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