It’s one of the greatest satisfactions life can offer - when a great book gets an equally great big screen adaptation.
For the keen readers among us, it’s been beyond our wildest dreams that this could ever happen twice.
Well, pinch us. The impossible has happened.
The bestselling, gripping crime novel The Talented Mr. Ripley, written by Patricia Highsmith and published in 1955, was adapted into a critically-acclaimed film of the same name in 2000 and boasted an all star cast with Matt Damon, Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow.
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Fast forward to now, and it’s been adapted to rave reviews once more - debuting with an incredible 94% on Rotten Tomatoes.
The novel has been adapted into a television series this time around, and stars Andrew Scott, Johnny Flynn and Dakota Fanning in the lead roles.
Shot entirely in black and white by Oscar-winning cinematographer Robert Elswit, Ripley has already been lauded as a masterpiece by critics despite only landing on Netflix today (4 April).
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In a review for the Guardian, Lucy Mangan said: “This scintillating and noirish adaptation leaves Matt Damon’s 1999 version in the shade.” High praise indeed!
The plot of eight-episode psychological thriller Ripley, of course, largely follows that of the book and the film.
Beginning in New York in the early 1960’s, young and ambitious social climber Tom Ripley (Andrew Scott) is hired by a wealthy father, in a bid to convince his wayward son, Dickie Greenleaf (Johnny Flynn) to return home from Italy, where he is lazing around with his girlfriend Marge Sherwood (Dakota Fanning).
Of course, it doesn’t go as planned. Instead, Tom's introduction to Dickie’s life defined by leisure, riches and an eternal carefree holiday leads to a web of lies, fraud, obsession and murder.
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BBC Culture wrote that Ripley “transforms the same story into something completely different but just as masterful”.
Now that viewers have had a chance to watch it - they’ve piled on their own praise.
One person took to X to write: “Ok so I've already done two hours work and I'm having a big cuppa tea and watching the first episode of #Ripley on Netflix and I'm here to tell you that it and Andrew Scott are both astonishingly beautiful & strange & deeply unsettling & you should watch it.”
Another said: “This is actually a very handsomely made show and production. I’m quite surprised and impressed Netflix sprung for this instead of the regular slop they seem to put out these days. I’m enjoying it so far.”
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A third chimed: “I got the chance to watch #Ripley from #Netflix in advance.
“It’s AMAZING.”
That’s your weekend sorted.
Featured Image Credit: Netflix/Paramount PicturesTopics: TV And Film, Netflix