Ferrante fever is once again
heating up in the United States following the small-screen debut
on Sunday of Elena Ferrante's "My Brilliant Friend" on HBO, in
an eight-episode miniseries.
The miniseries will begin airing in Italy on November 27 on
RAI1, Raiplay and Timvision.
The production, directed by Saverio Costanzo with
Oscar-winning director Paolo Sorrentino as producer, has been
widely reviewed in the States.
Rolling Stone magazine called it "an emotional wallop", and
the New Yorker called it "a Prada ad for working-class gloom,
but with shades of humble tenderness".
"The adaptation is faithful, though not slavishly so," the
New Yorker said.
Regarding fashion (spoiler alert): the wedding dress as well
as the shoes that Lila makes in her father's shop will be
designed by Valentino stylist Pierpaolo Piccioli.
The miniseries is adapted from the first of Ferrante's four
Neapolitan Novels, which tell the story of a lifetime friendship
between Elena Greco (Lenù), the narrator, and her friend Lila
Cerullo.
Their friendship begins during their elementary school years
in a working-class neighborhood of 1950s Naples.
The New York Times called the series "an intimate epic".
It compared the challenge of adapting the series for the
screen to that of Game of Thrones, due to fans' "exacting
expectations".
In Italy, the first two episodes premiered in September at
the Venice Film Festival.
The HBO series is a co-production with Rai Fiction,
Timvision, Wildside and Fandango.
Meanwhile, American actress Maggie Gyllenhaal has been tapped
to direct the adaptation of Ferrante's fourth book, The Lost
Daughter, which followed Troubling Love, The Days of
Abandonment, and Fragments.
Gyllenhaal spent weeks discussing her vision for the
adaptation with Ferrante, through the author's publishing house,
Edizioni E/O.
After the discussions, Ferrante gave Gyllenhaal the rights to
the adaptation, on one condition: "As long as you are the
director".
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