Six years after the story of The brilliant friendthe hit series based on the bestselling tetralogy by Elena Ferrantemay end its journey where it began in 2018. My brilliant friend 4 – after the cancellation at the Tribeca film festival where it was supposed to debut, due to the fact that HBO postponed the American broadcast – it could have its premiere at the Venice Film Festival. The director of Rai Fiction made it clear, unofficially Maria Pia Ammirati in Scilla, on the last day of AVP, the producers’ summit on New Frontiers. “The brilliant friend – he said in the panel – it is one of the exceptional Italian products, we will air in November with these new episodes, always with the supervision of Saverio Costanzoentrusted to Laura Bispuri. We should have been at Tribeca but there was also an interlocution with Venice, with festivals we know that it’s always a bit like this.” The series is a production of Fandango, The Apartment, Fremantle Italy, Wildside and Mowe, in collaboration with Rai Fiction and HBO Entertainment.
The series with the international title of My brilliant friend has obtained an excellent result both with critics and the public also abroad and in particular in the United States where i Neapolitan Novels I am beloved: the series was sold in 170 territories so it would not have been surprising that the fourth and final season, entitled Story of the lost little girl, had seen its debut in the United States, with a premiere that has now faded away. Among the new features, as well as in the cast it sees Alba Rohrwacher in the role of Elena Greco (Lenù), Irene Maiorino in the role of Lila Cerullo e Fabrizio Gifuni in the role of Nino Sarratore there is also a change of director. After Saverio Costanzo, Alice Rohrwacher, Daniele Luchetti it’s now the turn of Laura Bispuri who directs this last chapter of the saga. Bispuri is in his first try in seriality after having signed for the cinema films such as Sworn Virgin, My daughter, Peacock paradise all three titles with Alba Rohrwacher.
Lila and Lenù, brilliant friends who convince
by Antonio Dipollina
07 February 2022
Written by Elena Ferrante, Francesco Piccolo, Laura Paolucci And Saverio Costanzothe series is produced by Saverio Costanzo, Paolo Sorrentino, Jennifer Schuur, Elena Recchia, Lorenzo Mieli, Domenico Procacci And Guido De Laurentiis. Fremantle is the international distributor in association with RaiCom. Screenwriter Laura Paolucci said: “We are all quite moved. Because we are at the end of a journey, these stories have kept us company for many years, it’s a bit like saying goodbye to old friends. We are very happy with how things are going, there has been a change of protagonists, we will see them as adults”. Story of the lost little girl it is the final chapter of the saga of the two friends Elena and Lila who went through the twentieth century and its transformationsis the most dramatic chapter and full of contradictions.
‘The lying life of adults’, the screenwriter speaks: “Here’s how to write with Elena Ferrante”
by Chiara Ugolini
04 January 2023
The plot of the latest novel finds Lila and Lenù now adults, with behind them lives full of events, discoveries, falls and “rebirths”. Both have fought to leave their native neighborhood, a prison of conformism, violence and bonds that are difficult to break. Elena became an established writer, she left Naples, got married and then separated from Pietro, she had two daughters, she sought happiness with Nino and now she has returned once again to Naples. Lila remained there, more entangled in family and Camorra relationships, but she was able to invent a surprising career as an IT entrepreneur and more than ever exercises her fascinating and charismatic role as the hidden but real leader of the neighborhood, which will lead her – again once – to the clash with the powerful Solara brothers. Even though they are again in the same city, for three years the friends don’t see each other, they don’t meet: Lenù tries in every way to stay away from Lila: “Starting from October 1976 and until, in 1979, I returned to live in Naples, I avoided establishing stable relationships with Lila. But it wasn’t easy. She almost immediately tried to force her way back into my life and I ignored her, I tolerated her, I tolerated her being close to me in a difficult moment, I couldn’t forget the contempt with which he had treated me” writes Ferrante.
