The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)

It's better to be a fake somebody, than a real nobody...

‘Buttoned-down Brooks Brothers or J. Press…’

Patricia Highsmith is one of my favourite writers. I’m obsessed with the ‘Ripliad’, that slightly pretentious description for Highsmith’s five psychological thrillers starring the endearing psychopath and preppy murderer, Tom Ripley: The Talented Mr. Ripley (1955), Ripley Underground (1970), Ripley’s Game (1974), The Boy Who Followed Ripley (1980) and Ripley Underwater (1991). And the films too: Purple Noon aka Plein Soleil (1960), starring Alain Delon; Wim Wenders’ The American Friend (1977), starring Dennis Hopper; Ripley’s Game (2002), starring John Malkovich- and Ripley Under Ground (2005), the last film I have yet to see. 

If you're going to judge the Ripley films against the books (and, I would suggest, in this case, that's a valid exercise), it helps to know a bit more about the Ripley series in its entirety. Tom is a mild-mannered, urbane, almost Henry Jamesian, American Ex-Pat; buttoned-down Brooks Bros, or J. Press, as portrayed in David Tayler’s paperback cover for Pan. Who only turns nasty (i.e. kills people) under duress. Not that he wants to, especially, but because he has to. Because they get in the way of his rather comfortable life. And when he does kill, it's with an amused detachment.

The Talented Mr. Ripley, Pan paperback (1960), illustrated by David Tayler.