The Various Mr. Ripleys
“Ripley” on Netflix is the latest riff on the
con-artist character the author Patricia Highsmith invented in the 1950s.
Here’s a look at the earlier versions.
By Brian
Tallerico
April 3,
2024, 12:12 p.m. ET
One of
fiction’s most famous impostors returns on Thursday with the debut of Netflix’s
“Ripley,” the latest adaptation of a character invented in the 1950s by the
author Patricia Highsmith. In eight episodes, all written and directed by the
Oscar-winning screenwriter Steven Zaillian (“Schindler’s List,” “The Night
Of”), a classic chameleon changes colors yet again, returning to a few core
elements of Highsmith’s original creation while also boosting the creepiness
quotient.
Over nearly
seven decades, Tom Ripley has appeared in five books by Highsmith, five films,
multiple television episodes and even a radio show. He has been played by
interpreters as varied as Matt Damon, Alain Delon, Dennis Hopper, John
Malkovich and now, Andrew Scott. What has made him so enduring?
The details
change, but the foundation of the character remains the same: a con artist who
becomes a killer, someone so enamored by upper-class comfort that, once he
experiences it, will do anything to hang on to it. Ripley dreams of a better
life for himself, which makes him relatable. What makes him fascinating is his
willingness to go to murderous lengths to secure it.
As a new
version of Tom Ripley arrives, here is a look at how this grifter has evolved
over the generations.
The Books
By the time
Highsmith created Ripley, she was already an accomplished writer. She burst
onto the scene in 1950 with her first novel, “Strangers on a Train,” which
would be adapted into the Alfred Hitchcock film a year later. Other acclaimed
Highsmith works include “The Two Faces of January,” made into a 2014 film
starring Viggo Mortensen; and “Deep Water,” adapted into a 2022 film starring
Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas. Using the pen name Claire Morgan, Highsmith also
wrote “The Price of Salt,” renamed “Carol” for Todd Haynes’s 2015 film
adaptation.
The books
collectively known as the “Ripliad” remain her signature achievement. The
series started in 1955 with “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” a thriller that has been
adapted multiple times and influenced other, similar tales of men replacing
other men. Highsmith’s Ripley is a low-level con man asked by a shipping
magnate to find his layabout son, Dickie Greenleaf, who is wasting his trust
fund in Italy with his friend Marge Sherwood.
Tom quickly
becomes enraptured with Dickie’s life, as the skeptical Marge and abrasive
friend Freddie Miles view him with suspicion. When it appears that Dickie wants
to cut Tom loose, Ripley murders him on the water with an oar and attempts to
take his place. Highsmith’s Ripley is always one step ahead of reality, willing
to do anything to stay there. He is more amoral than immoral, unwilling or
unable to consider anything beyond his own self-interest.
The
character would appear in four sequels: “Ripley Under Ground” (1970); “Ripley’s
Game” (1974); “The Boy Who Followed Ripley” (1980); and “Ripley Under Water”
(1991). But the first story has remained the one most identified with Ripley,
even as different artists have made him their own.
‘Purple Noon’
The first
adaptation of “The Talented Mr. Ripley” was on TV, in a 1956 episode of the
anthology series “Studio One.” (One of the writers was Marc Brandel, who had
once been engaged to Highsmith.) The French film “Purple Noon” (1960) presented
the first cinematic version of Ripley, introducing the world to Alain Delon, in
his first major role.
Co-written
and directed by René Clément, it begins in Italy, eschewing the criminal setup
of Highsmith’s novel. It presents the most impassioned Ripley — he is motivated
more by vengeance than by a desire for wealth. This Greenleaf, named Philippe
(played by Maurice Ronet), is a cruel, abusive snob. When he catches Ripley in
his clothes — a key turning point in all versions of the tale — Philippe acts
out against him, belittling Tom and stranding him on a dinghy in the hot sun to
teach him a lesson. Tom decides to kill Philippe and take his place.
From there
the film hews close to the source material. However, Clément sends his Ripley
into a trap at the end, perhaps recognizing that movie audiences in 1960 wanted
to see their villains punished, even if they were as charismatic as Delon.
‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’
Matt Damon,
right, played the title role in “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” written and directed
by Anthony Minghella. (With Gwyneth Paltrow and Jude Law.)Credit...Phil
Bray/Paramount Pictures & Miramax Films
This 1999
film by Anthony Minghella kept Highsmith’s vicious opportunism while changing a
few key elements, upping the body count and aggravating some purists.
Matt
Damon’s take on Ripley is less of a schemer — his cruelty tends to be
improvised, the result of emotional torment rather than sociopathic planning.
This Ripley isn’t a criminal at the start, merely someone who stumbles into the
elder Greenleaf’s life and gets sent to Italy by chance. He is also clearly
attracted to Dickie, which is hinted at in other versions but made explicit
here. (For the record, Highsmith told Sight & Sound in 1988 that she didn’t
think Ripley was gay, even if her original text allowed for that
interpretation.)
Featuring
one of the best casts of its era, with Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Philip
Seymour Hoffman and Cate Blanchett, among others, Minghella’s version uses a
well-known source to craft its own story, ending with a scene that is somehow
both heartbreaking and disturbing in equal measure.
Other
Ripley books were adapted to varying degrees of success over the years. The
best of the bunch is Wim Wenders’s “The American Friend” (1977), which blends
elements of “Ripley’s Game” and “Ripley Under Ground” into something new and
very Wenders. Bruno Ganz is excellent as a dying painter manipulated by Ripley,
played here by Dennis Hopper, who has an eccentric, enigmatic take on the
character.
John
Malkovich starred in a 2002 film version of “Ripley’s Game,” and Barry Pepper
played the character in a little-seen adaptation of “Ripley Under Ground” in
2005. Jonathan Kent played Ripley in “Patricia Highsmith: A Gift for Murder,” a
1982 episode of the British arts and culture series “The South Bank Show.” BBC
Radio 4 adapted all five Ripley novels in 2009, with Ian Hart as Ripley.
‘Ripley’
Originally
commissioned by Showtime, the new “Ripley” moved to Netflix last year while the
show was still in postproduction. With Scott (“All of Us Strangers”) in the
title role, it follows the narrative of the Highsmith original while adding its
own distinctive touches: Black-and-white cinematography by Robert Elswit
(“There Will Be Blood”) amplifies the cool detachment of the con artist,
portrayed by Scott as a criminal with ice in his veins. Johnny Flynn plays
Dickie, and Dakota Fanning is Marge.
But as
usual the main focus is Tom Ripley, who keeps slinking his way through books,
films and TV, unconcerned about the damage he leaves in his wake.
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