Ripley follows a petty scammer whose life changes after he accepts a job offer from a wealthy man. The series is now streaming on Netflix.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary
In 1961, Thomas “Tom” Ripley struggles to make ends meet in New York, resorting to petty crimes such as scams and forging IDs.
One day, a private detective hired by Herbert Greenleaf, the owner of a shipping company, approaches Tom, mistaking Tom to be a friend of his son, Richard or Dickie.
Herbert wants to hire Tom to go to Italy and bring his son back home. Richard has settled in Atrani to pursue painting, with no intention of returning home.
However, Herbert cannot cut Richard off, as Richard now controls his trust fund. Therefore, Herbert is willing to pay Tom to go to Italy and convince his son to return.
Tom lets Herbert and his wife believe that he is an old friend of Richard’s, and he accepts the job. In Italy, Tom meets Richard and his girlfriend, Marge, who is a writer.
Tom claims to have met Richard in New York, and although Richard does not remember meeting him, he does not doubt Tom.
Tom lies about being an accountant in New York and eventually confesses to Richard that Herbert sent him to convince him to return home.
Tom claims that he understands why Richard wants to stay in Italy, so he decides not to force him to leave.
Meanwhile, he informs Herbert that he is making progress with Richard and continues to receive payment from him.
Richard offers to let Tom stay at his summer house, and Tom accepts. He becomes close to Richard and gets used to his lavish lifestyle.
However, Marge is wary of Tom and dislikes him, suspecting that he is taking advantage of Richard. Similarly, Freddie Miles, Richard’s friend, is also suspicious of Tom’s motives.
Tom becomes obsessed with Richard. He adopts his mannerisms, dresses like him, and even becomes jealous when Richard chooses to spend time with Marge.
Richard receives a letter from Herbert, informing him that Tom lied about Richard wanting to return home. Additionally, Herbert fires Tom.
As a result, Richard decides to ask Tom to leave. He decides to break the news to Tom on a trip to Sanremo, where he delivers the news during a boat ride.
Enraged, Tom hits him with the oar and murders him. He then ties Richard’s body to the anchor and throws it into the sea, but not before taking Richard’s belongings.
Tom attempts to burn the bloodstained boat but fails, so he fills it with rocks and sinks it not far from the shore. That very night, he flees Sanremo.
Tom returns to Atrani and sells everything in Richard’s summer house, except for a Picasso painting. He even sells Richard’s beloved boat.
He packs all of Richard’s belongings to take to Rome and tells Marge that Richard decided to go to Rome for a while because he needed space.
Tom moves to Rome and assumes Richard’s identity. He rents an apartment in Richard’s name, lives off Richard’s money, and writes letters to Marge and Richard’s family as if he were Richard.
Then, one day, Freddie comes to visit Richard. He sees Tom in Richard’s apartment and grows suspicious because he knows that Tom used to scam people in New York.
Freddie plans to report him to the police, resulting in Tom killing him. Later that night, he leaves Freddie’s body in the car he had rented outside Rome.
Inspector Ravini, who is investigating Freddie’s case, eventually questions Tom, who is still living as Richard. Ravini suspects him of foul play but has no evidence.
It is then that the sunken boat with bloodstains on it is found in Sanremo, and it is discovered that Tom and Richard had rented it.
Ravini comes to believe that Richard killed Freddie, unaware that Tom has stolen Richard’s identity, and he was the one who killed Richard and Freddie.
Marge also comes to Rome to visit Richard but instead finds Tom there. Tom tells her that Richard left Rome because the police were bothering him.
Freddie’s murder case and Tom’s disappearance garner a lot of public attention, with Richard becoming the prime suspect in both.
While Ravini investigates Freddie’s murder and Tom’s disappearance, Tom heads to Palermo. Ravini questions Marge, who informs him that she met Tom in Rome.
Ravini, unable to find any trace of Tom in Rome, begins to think that Marge lied to him, making her a suspect as well.
Meanwhile, Marge comes to believe that Richard has been avoiding her and asking Tom to lie for him because he is in a relationship with Tom.
She decides to break up with Richard by writing him a letter, and Tom believes he has finally rid himself of her.
However, Tom’s troubles are far from over. He has been forging Richard’s signatures on bank checks, and the bank suspects fraud.
Although Tom manages to resolve this by sending the bank a letter typed on Richard’s distinct typewriter, claiming there has been no fraud, he still has to find a way to deal with Ravini.
When Ravini asks Tom to return to Rome, Tom sends a letter to his landlady in Rome, informing her that he is giving up the apartment and that she should sell his belongings.
Before she receives the letter, he himself goes to Rome. Instead of meeting Ravini, he takes all the important things from his apartment.
Additionally, he cashes out thousands of dollars in traveler’s checks before he stops using Richard’s identity, effectively making Richard disappear.
Ravini finds out from the hotel clerk, who was the last person to see Richard, that a depressed Richard inquired about ferries to Tunisia before checking out of the hotel, leading him to believe that Richard has escaped to Tunisia.
Ending explained:
The trick of light
Tom moves to Venice and rents a grand villa. This time, he does not do it as Richard but as Thomas Ripley.
He then goes to the police station to inform them that Thomas Ripley is well and alive, which leads to Ravini coming to Venice to meet him.
When Ravini arrives, Tom is prepared. He adopts a disguise and uses the lack of lighting in the room to prevent Ravini from figuring out that Tom and Richard are the same person.
Tom succeeds in fooling Ravini, who now believes that Richard did not kill Tom. Soon, the news that Tom is alive and in Venice reaches everyone.
Due to this, Tom becomes part of Venice’s high society, as everyone wants to know the sensational details of the case for their entertainment.
The lies surrounding Richard’s death
It is then that Marge comes to see Tom. She informs Tom that the police believe that Richard killed Freddie and then did something to himself.
When she questions Tom about being able to afford the villa, he tells her that his aunt died and left him an inheritance.
Marge takes up Tom’s insincere offer to stay at his villa instead of the hotel, and Tom deliberates on killing her more than once.
He even meets Herbert, who has come to Italy to find his son. Due to the letters Tom wrote to him as Richard, Herbert now believes that he was wrong about Tom.
Tom seems like a good man to him, and he takes Tom’s word when he tells him that Richard looked stressed the last time he saw him.
Soon after, Marge finds the ring that Richard never took off in Tom’s possession. When she questions Tom about it, he lies and tells her that Richard gave it to him.
Tom nearly murders Marge then but does not do so when Marge fails to catch his lie. In fact, she thinks that Richard gave his ring to Tom because he was going to kill himself.
Tom then answers the questions of the private detective who found him for Herbert in New York. He tells him that Richard confessed his love for him in Sanremo.
He also lies about rejecting Richard, convincing the detective that Richard indeed took his own life and left his ring with the man he loved.
The fact that the hotel clerk who last saw him in Palermo claimed that he looked depressed and resigned, and the letter Tom had sent to the landlady, proves the theory that Richard killed himself on his way to Tunisia.
As the investigation into Freddie’s murder comes to an end, Herbert returns to New York. Marge no longer suspects Tom of anything and parts ways with him on good terms.
Living Richard’s life
Tom, after evading the consequences of his crimes, continues to live a luxurious lifestyle. He then obtains a fake British passport.
His new identity is that of Timothy Fanshaw, to whom he had sent Richard’s Picasso painting, which is now displayed in Tom’s house.
Tom has successfully pulled off the biggest scam of his life and is now living the life that was once Richard’s.
However, the trouble might not be over just yet. Marge publishes the book she had been writing and sends a copy to Ravini.
The book includes a picture of Richard, and Ravini realizes that the man he thought was Richard is, in fact, Thomas, who successfully played him and everyone else.
Also Read: “The Geriatric” candidate’s death in The Girls on the Bus explained