Dakota Fanning's Best TV Show: Netflix's Psychological Thriller Ripley

In recent years, Dakota Fanning has transitioned from one of Hollywood’s brightest young talents into an established star renowned for choosing unconventional screen roles, as one of Netflix’s best miniseries exemplifies. In this series, Fanning manages to stand out among a stellar cast, giving a performance which remains her greatest TV accomplishment.

Despite falling short of the universal acclaim and mass popularity afforded to other all-time great Netflix originals, Ripley is a tour de force of stylish neo-noir storytelling. This fresh adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s landmark novel The Talented Mr. Ripley looks and feels like an Alfred Hitchcock thriller for the modern era.

Ultimately, though, it rests on the strength of its two sublime lead performances, from Fanning and Sherlock actor Andrew Scott. While Scott’s version of Tom Ripley ranks as the best ever rendered onscreen, Fanning is the real star of the show, with her enigmatic portrayal of Marge Sherwood underscoring Ripley’s noir aspirations.

Netflix's Ripley Is Still Dakota Fanning's Best TV Show

Although there’s more of a critical consensus around her celebrated stint in TNT’s period drama The Alienist and her recent turn in Peacock’s perfect thriller All Her Fault, Ripley is still Dakota Fanning’s best TV show. Its stylized approach to storytelling might not be to everyone’s tastes, but few 21st century releases have encapsulated the spirit of noir with such relish.

Shot in black and white against the backdrop of Italy’s most beautiful luxury locations, the miniseries smolders with misty suspicion as it winds its way through the grave deceptions of Tom Ripley, casting bleak shadows over the opulence of its settings. For fans of slow-burn psychological thrillers, Ripley is an absolute must-watch on Netflix.

Fanning Gives A Sublime Performance As Marge Sherwood

Whoever cast Dakota Fanning as Marge Sherwood deserves to be singled out for special praise. Fanning is far from an obvious choice to play the naive socialite who subordinates herself to husband Dickie Greenleaf. However, her casting serves Ripley’s ingenious reframing of Sherwood as an ambivalent presence in the story perfectly.

Fanning internalizes many of Marge’s suspicions about Tom Ripley, keeping us guessing about what she believes, and how much she really knows. As a result, Ripley exposes Greenleaf’s wife as a figure complicit in the web of deception wrought by its title character, who cynically uses her husband in a manner that mirrors Tom Ripley’s crimes.

The show’s murky depiction of Marge Sherwood is central to its realization of a world where no one is trustworthy, everyone is a double-faced opportunist, and the ugly truths beneath its veneer of social propriety remain unspoken. This iteration of Sherwood is incredibly difficult to portray, because so much of her complexity as a character needs to be implicit.

Yet, Fanning delivers a masterclass in understated ambiguity, as she embodies the subtle changes in tone Ripley applies to the original version of its story. This turn Marge Sherwood will continue to define her career for the foreseeable future.

Ripley Is Even Better Than The Movie Adaptation Of The Talented Mr. Ripley

It’s impossible not to view Netflix’s Ripley in the context of Anthony Minghella’s 1999 movie The Talented Mr. Ripley, which stars Matt Damon as the titular villain, and Gwyneth Paltrow as Marge Sherwood. But even though this adaptation is still the definitive one in the eyes of many viewers, there’s no question that the Netflix miniseries does something brilliantly original.

Ripley makes extensive changes to Patricia Highsmith’s book, altering certain key plot elements and characterizations. These alterations result in an adaptation that broadens the work’s central themes while adding depth to its main characters.

The series leaves it up to us to take a stance on Tom, Dickie and, most importantly, Marge. As a consequence, Ripley doesn’t just entertain us, but makes us contemplate the meaning behind its carefully considered artistic decisions.