Francine Robinson

The Minghella version of this was exquisite, loaded with humanity. The genuineness of the characters made the movie riveting, a rich treasure. This Netflix version is absurd and boring with the nauseating hours-long abundance of “atmospheric” sound effects and ridiculous never-ending “symbolic” visuals, and shallow unlikeable characters. 8 hours of seagulls crying, dogs barking, doors squeaking, footsteps echoing, people endlessly going up and down stairs, and a flood of images, throughout, of “ancient” poignant sculpture, historic architecture, and classical paintings of the “tragic” state of mankind, the war between man and evil (or God, or whatever). I felt like I was watching some stupid kid’s final project in film class. What in the world were they thinking, casting people in their near-50’s to play Tom Ripley and Dickie Greenleaf?! The whole point in the original novel was that they were all very young adults, grappling with how to navigate their lives. Pretentious, shallow, pompous, boring, tone-deaf, ridiculous, endless, stupid.