“My Brilliant Friend,” HBO’s adaptation of author Elena Ferrante’s four-book Neapolitan novels, is exquisite.
It’s a sentiment-free journey back to “the old country,” a place where men often respond to disagreement with a kick or a slap, and women never talk back.
Well, almost never: Lila (Ludovica Nasti) is a little girl who talks — and fights — back. She is indeed brilliant: well-read and clever despite her limited education as the daughter of a shoemaker.
Her friendship with the more conventionally obedient Elena (Elisa del Genio) is at the core of the series. It’s heartfelt and at times hard to watch. Yet, “My Brilliant Friend” is leisurely in pace as the girls grow into each other’s lives.
The dialogue is entirely in Italian, with English subtitles. “Big Little Lies,” this is not.
This adaptation should delight not only fans of the books but also the “Masterpiece Theater” crowd who will be drawn to the prestige project’s two-part debut Sunday and Monday (both 9 p.m.).
HBO promises future seasons will cover the entire span of Ms. Ferrante’s literary phenomenon.
More than 5.5 million books have been sold, in 42 countries, and not for nothing does it take eight episodes to cover just the childhood and young teen years of Lila and Elena.
The tale begins when both are in their mid-60s. Elena receives a phone call in the middle of the night to say Lila has not only gone missing but also has taken pains to erase herself entirely from her home, even in photographs.
It’s not the first time Lila has done so, and the incident prompts Elena to begin writing what might or might not be an accurate history of their tempestuous lives and friendship.
As teens, Lila and Elena are played by Gaia Girace and Margherita Mazzucco; all four young actors are excellent.
Life in postwar Italy is a series of neighborhood fights, domestic violence and, occasionally, deaths. The girls aren’t really friends until they bond one day over their mutual fear of Don Achille, a man of some dark influence in their dusty little corner of Naples.
The humble and the proud alike live in courtyard apartments where all know and can hear everyone else’s affairs. Those with money, such as the Solaros, are esteemed by those without, even if the former’s riches were made on the black market.
Passions run unchecked.
In one scene, a father threatens to break his daughter’s legs, “one at a time,” if she continues to date a certain boy. Moments later, the girl’s mother sobs upon learning the daughter has passed the entrance exams to high school with flying colors. Looks like she won’t be around to help with the housework.
“I can’t believe you’re still going to school!” the mother cries. “You’ll make me curse God!”
Entwined in each other’s lives, and the lives of those around them, Lila and Elena become great friends, break up, reunite, ignore each other, succumb to jealousy and reunite because that’s the way life is sometimes.
Elena Ferrante is a pseudonym for the books’ reclusive author. HBO press materials note she participated in writing the screenplay via email with director Saverio Costanzo.
“It was like working with a ghost,” said Mr. Costanzo, who collaborated with Francesco Piccolo and Laura Paolucci on scripts and will direct the entire 32-episode series.
Fabio Cianchetti’s visuals are striking, capturing a day when the young girls set off to see the ocean for themselves amid a thunderstorm, and neighbors celebrating New Year’s Eve by shooting fireworks off of crowded smoky rooftops.
HBO made only the first six episodes available for review. So, for those who haven’t read the books, it’s anyone’s guess what lies ahead for Lila and Elena.
Here’s a broad answer: lives full of drama.
Maria Sciullo: msciullo@post-gazette.com or @MariaSciulloPG.
First Published: November 15, 2018, 2:00 p.m.
