Ripley - Netflix
Ripley - Netflix
There are always enthralling TV series to watch, but if you want a treat for all your senses, please watch this dark, captivating adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s novel.
It’s obviously not the first time the novel has been adapted for the screen. The 1999 film by Anthony Minghella with its stellar cast which included Matt Damon, Jude Law, and Gwyneth Paltrow was thrilling. But while that adaptation was saturated in colour, Steven Zaillian’s Netflix series is filmed in black and white, and the chiaroscuro lends the film even more of a chilling atmosphere than its predecessor.
The cinematography, by Robert Elswit, is absolutely stunning, although with Italy as a location it would be hard not to have ravishing scenery. Italy should be billed as one of the stars - whether located in a small fishing village surrounded by high cliffs, where a dizzying number of steps have to be clambered to reach the homes of the protagonists, or whether filmed in Naples, Rome, or Venice, the settings are swoonworthy. The story is set in the 1950s, and how the filmmakers managed to transform a fishing village and train platforms to the untouristy way they were 70 years ago is a mystery to me. Even the trains look authentically old, with their six person compartments and metal exteriors. And it’s wonderful to see Venice without the hordes of tourists that have been de rigeur for the last 70 years.
The cast is as marvellous as the locations. Andrew Scott is proving himself to be one of the most talented and versatile actors of his generation. His face is immensely expressive - within seconds it can change from anxiety to fear to charm to psychopathic determination to do harm. He makes a mesmeric Ripley.