Pmore than seven million viewers, 29.3% share, for the first two episodes broadcast on Rai1 of “My Brilliant Friend”, based on the novels by Elena Ferrante that have sold millions of copies all over the world. The series directed by Saverio Costanzo is also a social success that has had a huge echo: in the last month on Twitter the hashtag #MyBrilliantFriend has been used almost fifteen thousand times, with a peak yesterday evening with twelve thousand tweets. The first two episodes told the story of the beginning of the friendship between the two protagonists, Lila and Elena: the meeting at school and the relationships between the families of the working-class neighborhood in which they live, in the Napoli of the Fifties. The television audience particularly appreciated the two very young interpreters: Elisa Del Genio, who plays Elena as a child, and Ludovica Nasti, who plays the little Lila. Elisa is eleven years old and is Naples, Ludovica is twelve and from Pozzuoli, both debutants. They were chosen by Costanzo from eight thousand children after an eight-month casting in schools in various neighborhoods of Naples. From social media it emerges that users have also particularly appreciated the figure of the teacher Oliviero who understands Lila's potential and will do everything so that she and Elena can continue studying. The teacher confronts and clashes with families for whom it was inconceivable that a girl could go to middle school, usually destined to be wives and mothers. The teacher Oliviero, who is a feminist ante litteram, a strong and strong-willed woman, in the series is played by Dora Romano, who has worked a lot in the theater but has also had roles in the cinema in "Perfume, the story of a murderer", with Dustin Hoffman, and in the recent "On my skin". On TV she appeared alongside Virna Lisi in the TV series "Madre, aiutimi!". In the next episode, broadcast on December 4, Lila and Lenù will already be teenagers: the first will have to deal with the difficulties of middle school and the other will work in her father's shoe factory. The two friends will be played, of course, by two other actresses: Margherita Mazzucco and Gaia Girace. The series, produced by Fandango and Wildside in collaboration with Rai Fiction, Timvision and the American network HBO, is already on air with enormous success in the United States, and has been sold in fifty-six countries.
Article published on November 28, 2018 - 15:52
