Ripley - starts today on Netflix. Anyone fancy a discussion thread?

[Netaporter]

Based upon the book ‘The talented mr ripley’ by Patricia Highsmith Andrew Scott stars in this adaptation. It is filmed in B&W so interested to see how this differs from the glorious film starring Gwyneth, Jude and Matt Damon.

Going to start episode 1 later this morning.

Yes it would have been the work of seconds to ask Marge for one of her photos, but the inspector just wrote her off. Crazy really but all the time, he thought Dickie was alive because he’d met him. Very clever plotting by Highsmith 👑

I can’t remember but I suppose Caravaggio is part of the original story? The dark and the light. Such a grimy character himself, no wonder Tom fixated on him. (Mind you much of what I know about Caravaggio comes from the Derek Jarman film.)

I saw a clip of this on Gogglebox. I won't be watching, as the characters' ages are offputting.
It's hardly the beauty of youth, as in the film!

I should add that if I hadn't recently seen the film, I'd probably watch this series very happily!

I absolutely loved Ripley. Gutted I finished it tonight. Loved the black and white. Loved the imagery. Loved Ripley's sheer audacity. The dense police were irritating. Also spent too long expecting Marge to notice the typewriter and put two and two together. So will there be a sequel do we think? I haven't read the books so no idea.

I struggled to get through the first episode and could not finish it as found it very slow moving so interesting to hear does it pick up in other episodes. I loved Andrew in it and seeing as he is Irish loved him even more as am Irish.

I haven't read all the replies.

I have watched it and at first I wasn't gripped, it took a few episodes to accept the black and white.

I was getting irritated as why refer to colours of things and art and there is no colour. I don't think we ever found out the colour of the new gown.

I watched the Jude Law movie again since, and think that was way better personally.

Agree with other posters, the first episode was too slow and dingy. Things took off for me when he got to Italy, although I'd have tightened some scenes even then. I became fully immersed when Marge was having her doubts and being sidelined.

I think the opening eps were as they were to establish Ripley's grimy, constricted life, a contrast to the freedom of Dickie's circle. I listened to the novel on audiobook and can see this new version is more true - which doesn't make it better, just different.

A friend sees the tv Ripley as pure class warfare - I'll have me some of that.

Took at least 3 episodes to get into it. Then I loved it. Dakota is fine - it's a hard part to play and she's very good.. Sumner too.

Finished it last night and enjoyed it,
even though I’m usually a very impatient viewer.

We watched the beginning of the movie straight after and it all seemed so rushed.

the one thing that bothered me was how ridiculous the disguise was on the last episode, I mean, come on, it was like when Clark Kent just takes his glasses off and becomes Superman. For a series that seemed so carefully filmed and so focused on small details, I found that a bit lazy.

i actually saw Andrew Scott in the street in Richmond a few months ago and he looks remarkably young, and oddly enough, my husband then saw him again in Waterloo a couple of weeks later, and he now thinks they’re close, personal friends 😂

I agree that the disguise was ridiculous. It would probably have looked even more obvious in colour. I also thought the final episode was really drawn out and lacking in suspense. The Caravaggio stuff was pretentious and silly and the episode would have been much tighter without it.

You're right echt, that grimy contrast was necessary. Wish it hadn't dragged on so long, though. Wonder if flashbacks of something nice in his life (if there even was anything) might have helped. Easier said than done, though.

Yeah, that disguise was hard to go along with, even in semi-darkness 😂

I'm upset to discover it's in black and white. Was looking forward to the beautiful coastal colours and vistas of Italy 😟

Might seriously give it a miss because of that. I love the beautiful technicolour film so much.

I thought the town where they were living was so grim, why would anyone want to be there all year round?

the i saw colour pictures on Google and it’s beautiful.

Not sure if this has been noted before but why are the cobblestone streets, in every locale used in the series, alway always wet?

I'm guessing it's because it looks more pleasing for some reason.

I watched episode 5 last night. OK I get that it was probably easier to get away with murder at that time, but it was really rather silly. Dragging a body down the communal stairs, taking a cab from the deposition site and then going back there in another cab. Plus being American and therefore more memorable to the drivers.

I'm not going to watch it because I can't bear to watch something in black and white right now, after what seems like 698,000 years of rain and cold. I may come back to it in the winter.

I need the next White Lotus series really badly.

Or reruns of Benidorm ☀️⛱️

Love JF and AS though - saw the former in the Hangmen before he became a big star. He stole the show alongside David Morrissey.

@SpttyMaldoon I read a preview in a paper which had beautiful colourful photos of where it was filmed -and a story about that. I couldn't believe my eyes when I watched the trailer and it was in black and white. I hoped it was just the trailer - but no. I might watch the film again instead. ☀️

It's like being trapped in a Max Escher drawing, which, I suppose, is an allegory for Ripley's life. Several books follow the first.

Enjoying this apart from the grey. I wouldn’t mind so much if the weather was warm and sunny so I think the makers are victims of the climate.

Yes Andrew Scott is too old but I hope that is because they’re planning it to be the first of more adaptations in the rest of which he will be closer to the right age.

I agree the film made more emotional sense because Matt Damon seemed more innocent and Jude and Gwyneth more glittering, but otherwise I like the casting of Flynn and Fanning.

Freddie is ridiculous casting that lets the whole thing down because she can’t act and the other characters’ response to her is anachronistic. If they had wanted to use a trans man actor in the part it could have been done plausibly with a few little tweaks to the script so Freddie is an androgynous woman in a way that would have been a bit Bohemian but acceptable in 1960s rich arty circles. Having them just politely pretend not to notice she’s not a man is as clunking as if Dickie pulled out an iPhone and started texting Marge, and the fact they undermined the otherwise carefully created historical atmosphere for a nepo baby who can’t even deliver a line properly is exasperating.

I so agree with you on Freddie.

I did re-watch the original film and only then realised that it there was no art which has a big focus in the series. Jude Law version he played the piano. Now it makes even less sense to me why they made it in black and white AND brought in the art angle.

I posted that I wasn’t sure about it after watching the first couple of episodes, but from episode 3 onwards I was hooked and blown away, and am now convinced of the black and white cinematography. One of the best things I’ve watched in a long, long time, and every image is a work of art.

Your feelings echo mine, TubeScreamer. Think this film has potential for cult status, as it's eliciting such a marmite reaction.

I seem to remember the Jude Law version being panned when it came out, or at least not as popular as it is now. There's room for multiple adaptations although I suspect a reason for choosing b&w was to prevent comparisons between the two.