Ripley: Pretentious or Perfect?

Andrew Scott as Tom Ripley in the Netflix series, Ripley (2024).

My initial impressions of Ripley were as follows:

• I know this is the 1960s but is the dialogue really meant to sound like that?

• It doesn't disturb me but the words do seem intentionally or not, pretentious.

• Personally, I find it helps the pacing. But I don't know. Might be too esoteric for some people.

And I'm not the only one with these reactions.

The Ripley series has been somewhat divisive even though Rotten Tomatoes would have you believe otherwise. I do happen to like the show with the accesses it takes with its dialogue and even more so with certain characters randomly spouting poetic stuff. But hey, what's a little risk in the world of art no?

Dakota Fanning as Marge and Johnny Flynn and Dickie Greenleaf in the Netflix series, Ripley (2024).

There's often that debate about arthouse films and now TV shows being pretentious. Some of them are, I suppose. I can't really name one TV show myself but if any of you glorious readers can, by all means, go off in the comments. I'd like to know.

Ripley as a show has all the elements of a suspense thriller mixed in with the classic noir look of the late 50s and early 60s supported of course with modern technology. The lack of colour really gives the audience a type of clarity when watching these characters move through their lives. There isn't much way for the audience to be fooled by what they see but it also leaves a lot of room for doubt and theories which is the perfect balance to strike when telling suspenseful stories like these.

The performances are great. I personally found a surprise admiration for Johnny Flynn's portrayal of Dickie Greenleaf. My initial impression of him was very undecided so I decided to reserve my judgment till the end but honestly, I can now say that he did a great job with his dry, yet purposeful performance embodying a rich heir from the Big Apple.

My overall impressions of Ripley are more towards the positive side and I do have a soft spot for black and white so this does appeal to my cinephile-like demographic. That being said, I do recommend the everyday escapism-addicted person to watch this and I would be even more interested in their reaction to it.

Thanks for reading!