Watching Ripley, Netflix's sumptuous adaptation of crime novelist Patricia Highsmith’s classic psychological thriller "The Talented Mr Ripley", didn't just send me back to the author's original 1955 novel. It also sent me back to Anthony Minghella's equally lavish 1999 feature film, which is handily available on Netflix.
The two adaptations broadly follow the same outline: amoral grifter Tom Ripley travels from New York to Italy's Amalfi Coast to retrieve the errant playboy son of a New York shipping magnate, gets a taste for the dolce vita so nonchalantly enjoyed by the object of his quest, and then goes to murderous lengths to avoid giving up the high life he has come to enjoy.
