When, probably in February, season four ‘Great friend’All novels written by Elena Ferrante they will have jumped to the screen by now. His first movie, ‘Annoying Love’, was filmed in Italy in 1995, three years after its release, and the movie also became ‘The Days of Abandonment’ and more famously ‘The Dark Daughter’. It won Maggie Gyllenhaal the best screenplay award at Venice in 2021.
Another proof of the existence of an audiovisual Ferranteververse: “The lying life of adults” (NetflixWednesday, day 4)Giovanna (Giordana Marengo), immersed in a serious process of self-discovery in the Naples of the nineties. Everything is triggered by his eagerness to meet his aunt Vittoria (Valeria Golino), a supposedly grumpy and dangerous woman who is never mentioned at home. If it comes out in a whisper, it is to mention its apparent ugliness. With the start of an unexpected complicity, cracks begin to open in the excellent facade of an educated and intellectual family.
Giovanna’s fascination with that endlessly impatient woman who is utterly, unhappy, and ravaged by an unmatched love is easy to understand, both on screen and on paper. Golino represents Vittoria perfectly, but it was the countess from ‘Portrait of a woman on fire’ who was first surprised by her casting: “Valeria didn’t understand why we wanted her at first,” she explains. director Edoardo De Angelis with video call. “First of all, she’s the opposite of Vittoria. Pure velvet sweetness, pure kindness. And the character looks like an animal, wild. However, if you know how to read between the lines, you can see a sensitivity. Valeria’s same tenderness“.
Not an overprotective writer
According to De Angelis, the first thing to do when entering the process of adapting Ferrante is to “admit defeat”. The best defense is to surrender immediately? “Well, it’s always very thought-provoking everyone who just reads your books creates their own image and you can never live up to everyone’s expectations. You have to be able to accept this defeat. The important thing is just to feel free. To please yourself.”
This could mean making major changes to a scripture. Backed by experienced screenwriters Laura Paolucci and Francesco Piccolo (also in ‘The Wonderful Friend’), De Angelis hasn’t overlooked “new parts of the narrative,” something that doesn’t bother a writer who isn’t overprotective of his literary creature:More radical ideas were needed for the screen, both in terms of staging, plot and characters. We were in contact with Ferrante via email and he was happy with the changes. He always contributed to the project not only during the script phase but also during the editing process.“.
Some details may change, but the themes remain the same. a story about this the end of innocence, the charm of evil, the habit of lying, and the weight of the lie discovered later. The fine line that separates the real from the fake. Or about the non-existent border between bourgeois Naples and the most industrial. “Everything looks good on the hills and everything looks ugly, aggressive, dirty down below, but no, it’s easy to see that the truth is not. The hill and the city are completely connected.”
sensory project
In the series, the narrator’s voice is sometimes respected and his subjectivity is mixed. But first of all, sensory ways to show that inner turmoil are sought. Music and sound design play a fundamental role. First, as is often the case with De Angelis, veteran jazz fusion saxophonist Enzo Avitabile. “Our idea of a soundtrack is not typical at all,” the producer explains. “I write, tell him a bit of the story, and ask him for a certain sound climate. Enzo then sends me a very long piece that I use to set the scene for the shoot, giving rhythm to the whole process and inspiring the actors or camera operator. At some point I try them and it eventually becomes a soundtrack.” Also here, he says, De Angelis is fueled by songs from the nineties that “explain what’s going on in Giovanna’s head.” In the repertoire, enough big attackinevitably included. The name of the remix of the classic ‘Karmacoma’… ‘Naples trip’.