#The Talented Mr Ripley

[sigridstumb]

Me and Tom Ripley

The Talented Mr. Ripley. The Imposters. The Grifters. Inventing Anna. Saltburn.

I love stories about con artists, sociopaths, and imposters.

I've rewatched the Netflix series Ripley about six times since it came out.

When I was about thirteen years old, I read every book in the local public library about cons and cold reading. I read about how to win people over in business, I learned how to cold read. There were all these books out there that TEACH you how to pretend to be a normal person that someone wants to be friends with! These books teach you how to get people to trust you, to believe you!

I found these to be amazing tools. I could not get people to believe me, I could not figure out why people disliked me. I could not figure out what I was doing so wrong that made bullies kick me in the halls or throw things at me from schoolbuses. I knew it was something wrong with me, I knew I was messing something up, I knew I was failing. So I studied.

I studied how to fake the things I actually felt and believed.

The thing was, I wasn't lying most of the time. Most of the time I was using the social techniques of con artists and cold readers to get people to believe that things I meant. If I said "yes I like this song" in a way that was natural and comfortable for me, the person I was talking to thought I was being sarcastic and mean and that I hated the song, that I thought poorly of them for liking it. I did not! I liked the song! But to get the other person to believe me I had to remember to do all these extra things, like turn my body to 3/4 face the other person, to smile, to make me voice sound like a smile. I would think about cuddling a puppy in order to get the right amount of warmth in my eyes. I would lean in and raise the pitch of my voice.

There are all these extra THINGS I had to learn and remember to do in order to get people to respond to what I intended to say.

So, yes, I love media about con artists and grifters. I love watching people be good at that switch, at putting on the mask. I love watching people in a panic that they will be caught, be revealed, because that's how most social interactions feel to me -- constant worry that my mask will slip and the person I am talking to will suddenly feel that I'm lying to them, that I'm faking everything. (I am faking everything but it's to make sure they believe the truth! Which they won't believe unless I fake everything! I am an imposter, but in support of the truth!!)

Part of what I love about the Netflix Ripley is that Tom is only good at lying to other people when he has successfully gotten himself to believe what he is about to say. He practices and rehearses his lies so that he can sell them to others. I used to practice my facial expression in the mirror, trying to get them to look like other people's faces and expressions. I would practice my tone of voice and how to make it sound warm and friendly. All the things Tom does -- except the murders! and the theft! -- all the SOCIAL things Tom does, I have done those things in an effort to hide my autism and be accepted by the people whose respect and friendship I wanted.

Con artists, cold readers, and comic books taught me how to pretend to be neurotypical.

[thisfilmisnotyetrated]

THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY (dir. Anthony Minghella, 1999)

[super-nova5045]

i think essentially becoming and stealing your best friend’s identity after they died (because of YOU) is genuinely one of the most homoerotic things ever like fuck you mean in your deep gut wrenching grief you steal their life in order to be as physically close to them as possible

[mediademon]

"You give me the creeps." - The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)

"You make my fucking blood run cold." - Saltburn (2023)

[ghostofanovelwriter]

Tom: I better act normal so that Dickie doesn’t get too suspicious of me.

Also Tom:

[zanephillips]

JUDE LAW The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) dir. Anthony Minghella

[burningvelvet]

[brixuth]

"See Venice and die," is what they say? Or is it Rome?"

The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)

[ffb6c1lover]

I absolutely love the ending of The Talented Mr Ripley.

I love that Tom was able to trust Peter enough to tell him about his past and I love that Peter basically said "Y'know what, I love you no matter what. You are smart, sexy, talented and Dickie and Freddie were kind of assholes, so they should've seen it coming." And the next day they watch the sunset on the boat together. And when Meredith shows up, Tom is all like "Hey, look who I found on the boat?" and Peter played along "Such a coincidence we were on this boat together, and yet Dickie and I have decided are getting married next month" and Meredith was all like "I can't blame either of you. Can I be maid of honour?" and she was and they lived happily ever after.

Truly a classic.

[priestfrommidnightmass]

tom ripley was so ahead of his time bc he would’ve done numbers on tumblr dot com. he would’ve posted shit like “i make him hold me in his arms as i lay in a pool of his blood is this what love feels like” or “i need to be inside this man. not as in sex but as in his identity.” and all of his posts would have 15k notes at minimum and people in the tags would be like “dean abt cas”

[endiness]

THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY (1999) dir. Anthony Minghella

[1892]

the talented mr. ripley dir. anthony minghella / phrases by arthur rimbaud

[super-nova5045]

maybe we shouldn’t ban tiktok

[sherlock-is-ace]

Anyone watched Ripley? Cause y'all should!!

I really liked the 1999 movie but this show is so much better in my opinion. The acting is obviously incredible, we all know Andrew Scott can play a deranged man, but everyone else involved was fantastic.

And the cinematography!!! Every shot feels like a classic painting. Some camera angles and movements make me think of Wes Anderson but with a noir flare.

I also have to commend the english speaking cast for learning italian for this film (idk if any of them already spoke it but still) because they did a fantastic job!

And as an added bonus, it was really refreshing to see an afab NB actor play a cis man? Incredible!!

[willpreston]

Andrew Scott in Ripley (2024)

[relicariums]

The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)