'The Lying Life of Adults' Looks Appropriately Gritty and Gorgeous
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
It’s a fantastic time to be an Elena Ferrante fan. The Lost Daughter is fresh off its awards season triumph, My Brilliant Friend is barreling toward its fourth and final season, and now, a new miniseries lies ahead. After a long wait for devoted readers, the first teaser trailer for the latest Ferrante adaptation has landed: The Lying Life of Adults, set to stream early next year as a Netflix miniseries. If the trailer is any indication, this adaptation of Ferrante’s most recent novel will have everything readers know and love about her work, from its gritty Neapolitan setting to its focus on girlhood and womanhood. Below, we’re breaking down everything we know about the series thus far.
What Is The Lying Life of Adults About?
Netflix shared the following logline:
The search for a new face, after the happy one of childhood, oscillates between two consanguineous Naples which, however, fear and hate each other: the Naples above, which has given itself a fine mask, and the one below, which pretends to be excessive, trivial. Giovanna oscillates between high and low, now tumbling, now climbing, bewildered by the fact that, up or down, the city seems without answer and without escape.
You’d be forgiven if you don’t find Netflix’s description all that helpful—luckily, that’s where we come in. Set in Ferrante’s beloved and richly imagined Naples during the 1990s, The Lying Life of Adults begins when young Giovanna overhears a cutting remark about her appearance from her father, setting in motion a series of explosive events that will tear down the illusions undergirding her mannered, upper-crust childhood. Giovanna’s hurt and confusion send her into the arms of her estranged aunt, Vittoria, a crass and mysterious woman who lives in a more vulgar, exciting district of Naples. As she drifts between the influence of her parents and her aunt, Giovanna gradually uncovers an ugly family history, as well as some startling truths about what it takes for a girl to become a woman. In this propulsive, absorbing story, Ferrante takes aim at the carefully constructed fictions imposed by adults, asking how necessary our delusions are to our way of life.
For fans of My Brilliant Friend who lack other experience with Ferrante, The Lying Life of Adults is tonally similar, with a few key differences. Speaking with Esquire, Ferrante's translator Ann Goldstein juxtaposed the two stories, saying of The Lying Life of Adults, "It’s a much more limited timeframe. It doesn't have this gigantic cast of characters. It's much more confined, but the fact that it's told by a teenager made it really different. You're very aware of who's writing the book, of course, but I thought that was a different point of view. The other thing that's different is, of course, the two versions of Naples. When Elena returns to Naples in the Neapolitan Novels, she lives in this much more upper-class neighborhood, but she's not coming from there. How different it was for Giovanna to come from that middle-class neighborhood and that middle-class life."
Eleonora Andreatti, Netflix’s top Italian series executive, said that she hopes the streamer’s slate of Italian programming will help dismantle pervasive stereotypes about Italy, which "is still known around the world as the country of sun and good food, and hunky men in tank tops.” She continued, "We have a responsibility to understand and depict what's different, to really recount who we are and what our country is in its complexity and richness; its beauty but also the dark aspects." Complexity, richness, dark aspects? Sounds like the Elena Ferrante Special.
Who’s Behind the Series?
Helmed by Neapolitan director Edoardo De Angelis (who made an international splash in 2016 with Invisible), The Lying Life of Adults stars newcomer Giordana Marengo as Giovanna opposite Valeria Golino as Aunt Vittoria (you may recognize Golino from Rain Man, where she began her Hollywood career opposite Tom Cruise). Alessandro Preziosi plays Giovanna’s father, Andrea, while Pina Turco plays her mother, Nella. De Angelis co-wrote the show with Laura Paolucci and Francesco Piccolo (both writers on My Brilliant Friend), as well as the reclusive Ferrante herself.
When Will The Lying Life of Adults Stream?
The six-episode series will hit Netflix in its entirety on January 4, 2023. Watch this space for updates as we continue to learn more.
You Might Also Like
