I feared that Netflix mIght butcher one of my favorite thrillers of all time; after all ,there had been two versions before : "René Clément' s 'plein soleil ' (purple noon),starring Alain Delon and Minghella's "the talented etc Mr Ripley" starring Matt Damon .It should be pointed out that these movies, though excellent on their own, took many liberties with the initial novel : Clément's 'main drawback was the Marge/Ripley 's love relationship ,whereas Minghella made Ripley do his coming out when Highsmith,herself a lesbian , always kept things vague ,and would even marry her hero (to a heiress named Héloise ) in the other books of the saga.
Much to my surprise,this is an excellent miniseries , and mainly the most faithful adaptation of Highsmith I have ever seen; filmed in stark black and white , it harks back to the films noirs of yore : Ripley's background and his two-bit swindles ,his crummy flat in NYC , his longing for a life of luxury ( Roy Orbison 's magnificent "in dreams " fits like a glove in the picture) all rings true .Besides ,and for the first time ,sweet auntie Dottie is shortly featured : an orphan ,Tom was brought up by a spineful spinster who humiliated her all along his childhood (see the episode of the car in the book ;here she's in the dentist's office and is given a bad time ), an important thing in the hero's personality .
In direct contrast with that,we have the Greenleaf's wealth ,which represents all that Tom desperately wants ; for him,opportunity knocks ,and he will take no chances.....
This first episode really did bode well for the ones to come ....
Much to my surprise,this is an excellent miniseries , and mainly the most faithful adaptation of Highsmith I have ever seen; filmed in stark black and white , it harks back to the films noirs of yore : Ripley's background and his two-bit swindles ,his crummy flat in NYC , his longing for a life of luxury ( Roy Orbison 's magnificent "in dreams " fits like a glove in the picture) all rings true .Besides ,and for the first time ,sweet auntie Dottie is shortly featured : an orphan ,Tom was brought up by a spineful spinster who humiliated her all along his childhood (see the episode of the car in the book ;here she's in the dentist's office and is given a bad time ), an important thing in the hero's personality .
In direct contrast with that,we have the Greenleaf's wealth ,which represents all that Tom desperately wants ; for him,opportunity knocks ,and he will take no chances.....
This first episode really did bode well for the ones to come ....