Das lügenhafte Leben der Erwachsenen

As "The Lying Lives of Adults" (2023 release from Italy; 6 episodes each of about 50 min) opens, we are introduced to teenager Giovanna and her parents. She overhears her dad lamenting that Giovanna "is becoming a spitting image of my sister", Aunt Vittoria, from whom he's been estranged for years. Giovanna's curiosity is peaked. What has become of Aunt Vittoria? Why is she estranged from the family? At this point we are 10 minutes into Episode 1.

Couple of comments: this is the latest film adaptation of Italian author Elena Ferrante, best known for her "My Brilliant Friend" saga (also adapted into a TV series). Once again the story is set in Napoli, but this time we are in the mid-90s (we can figure that out from various information in the initial episodes). In this type of series, what makes or brakes it is the storytelling, and once again Ferrera delivers the goods. One cannot help but compare this to "My Brilliant Friend" and it is true that it lacks the epic scale that "My Brilliant Friend" presented, and it also misses the iconic lead performances featured in "My Brilliant Friend". But I found "The Lying Life of Adults" nevertheless to be worth my time and attention.

"The Lying Life of Adults" was released by Netflix a few weeks ago in early January, and I just got around to binge-watching the 6 episodes over 2 consecutive evenings. If you are a fan of "My Brilliant Friend", I'd readily suggest you check this out as well, and draw your own conclusion. If you haven't seen either of "My Brilliant Friend" or "The Lying Life of Adults", I'd suggest you start with "My Brilliant Friend" (to date the TV adaptation of 3 of the 4 books have been released on HBO/HBO Max).

This series is spellbinding. The narrative of coming of age is been done, but not like this series. It's filled with passion, loss, betrayals and pain. Director Angelis takes you on a journey that is exacting in adult hypocrisy concerning life and the chasms of growing up. The aunt played by Valeria Golino, spectacular performance as a jaded woman who lives her life fully but with pain brings her niece played by Giordana Marengo, who by the way is the female Timothy Chalamet brings a freshness to her role as tormented teenage figuring out her loyalties. Netflix did a wonderful job on this one.

When reading Elena Ferrante's books I had a feeling of shame, as I became increasingly conscious of the fact that what I was reading is bad literature well written. The same happens with this series.

Good cinematography, beautiful photography, effective soundtrack, spot on casting. And yet... It doesn't work.

The problem is the backbone of the story, the characters. Why is everyone in this so confused about everything? Like, all the time, constantly confused, tense, lost. Why? Why are the main characters doing what they do? What are their reasons? We don't know and we are not given a chance to know, to understand them at least a bit. We don't learn about them, we just see them being erratic and confused, all of them, all the time during the six episodes the season lasts. Boh.

Transferring Elena Ferrante's books onto the screen is not an easy endeavour; they are not plot driven stories, actually the plot is at times so thin to be barely perceivable. There's a lot of soul searching, introspection, her prose is harsh as sandpaper, her characters are flawed, tormented (and sometimes tormenting) people. All these - and many more - fine ingredients conjure up pretty unique and atmospheric ambiences. And, as I said, transferring this complex bundle of intangible elements into a movie is hard.

The operation has worked wonderfully once already (with The Lost Daughter, with a superb Olivia Colman) and it is working partially in The Lying Life Of The Adults. The are several remarkable things in this production: the acting is pretty good across the board and it succeeds in bring to life a gallery of strong characters. The portrayal of Naples is very realistic, never falling into clichés of caricatures. And finally, the underlying feeling of uneasiness which pervades the story is rendered very well.

On the less positive side, a good editing would have cut down significantly this production to 4 episodes max. Lastly, I thought the presence of the soundtrack was rather intrusive, it was one song after the other, and I found it detracted from the pensiveness of some situations.

I have never read the novel by Elena Ferrante, so i can not make a direct comparison.

The series starts slowly, almost plotless. The story is not eventful, but it's the characterization and the development of the characters the real aim. The personal growth, the come of age, the discovery of the world is perfectly told in this raw, true and beautifully shot depiction on the background of an enchanting, then haunted Naples.

Valeria Golino's performance is astonishing and the rest of the cast is not of any less.

A small pearl to watch and appreciate on its own regardless the book, as a deep representation of human beings and their relationships.