''My Brilliant Friend'' ( it, L'amica geniale) is an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

- and

Neapolitan Neapolitan means of or pertaining to Naples, a city in Italy; or to: Geography and history * Province of Naples, a province in the Campania region of southern Italy that includes the city * Duchy of Naples, in existence during the Early and Hig ...

-language

coming-of-age Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can be ...

drama television series created by

Saverio Costanzo Saverio Costanzo (born 28 September 1975) is an Italian film and television director. Biography Early life Costanzo was born in Rome, the son of journalist and TV presenter Maurizio Costanzo and writer Flaminia Morandi, and the brother of wri ...

for HBO,

RAI RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many ter ...

and

TIMvision TIMvision (formerly Cubovision) is an Italian Internet video on demand (VOD) service by Telecom Italia. It offers television shows, movies and TV series, for rental or purchase through the use of a decoder as well as video on demand, smart ...

. Named after the first of four novels in the

Neapolitan Novels The Neapolitan Novels, also known as the Neapolitan Quartet, are a four-part series of fiction by the pseudonymous Italian author Elena Ferrante, published originally by Edizioni e/o, translated into English by Ann Goldstein, and published by E ...

series by

Elena Ferrante Elena Ferrante () is a pseudonymous Italian novelist. Ferrante's books, originally published in Italian, have been translated into many languages. Her four-book series of ''Neapolitan Novels'' are her most widely known works. ''Time'' magazine ...

, the series will adapt the entire literary work into four eight-episode seasons. ''My Brilliant Friend'' is a co-production between Italian production companies Wildside,

Fandango Fandango is a lively partner dance originating from Portugal and Spain, usually in triple meter, traditionally accompanied by guitars, castanets, or hand-clapping. Fandango can both be sung and danced. Sung fandango is usually bipartite: it has ...

, The Apartment, Mowe and international film groups

Umedia Umedia (formerly stylized uMedia) is an international film group based in Brussels, with offices in London, Paris, Los Angeles, and Vancouver. History Nadia Khamlichi, Adrian Politowski and Jeremy Burdek created the Motion Investment Group in 20 ...

and

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

. The first two episodes were presented at the

75th Venice International Film Festival The 75th Venice International Film Festival was held from 29 August to 8 September 2018. Mexican film director Guillermo del Toro was named as the President of the Jury. '' First Man'', directed by Damien Chazelle, was selected to open the f ...

, in 2018. The first season premiered on HBO on November 18, 2018, and on

Rai 1 Rai 1 () is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana. It is the company's flagship television channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream and gene ...

and TIMvision on November 27, 2018. A second season, based on Ferrante's second Neapolitan Novel and titled ''My Brilliant Friend: The Story of a New Name'' ( it, L'amica geniale – Storia del nuovo cognome), was confirmed in December 2018, and premiered on Rai 1 on February 10, 2020, and on HBO on March 16, 2020. The first two episodes of the second season were screened in selected Italian cinemas from January 27 to 29, 2020. In April 2020, the series was renewed for a third season, based on the third novel in the series, ''Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay''. The eight-episode third season premiered on Rai 1 on February 6, 2022, and on HBO on February 28, 2022. In March 2022, the series was renewed for a fourth and final season, based on the final novel in Ferrante's series: ''The Story of the Lost Child''.

Cast and characters

Main

*Elisa Del Genio (season 1, guest season 2), Margherita Mazzucco (seasons 1–3) and

Alba Rohrwacher Alba Caterina Rohrwacher (, ; born 27 February 1979) is an Italian actress. Early life Alba Rohrwacher was born in Florence, the daughter of a German father and an Italian mother. From the age of 17 to 21 she studied medicine, intending to be ...

(season 4, cameo season 3) as Elena "Lenù" Greco, a girl from a poor neighbourhood in the outskirts of 1950s

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adm ...

. Rohrwacher also narrates the events of the series from the point of view of adult Elena Greco. The character is also portrayed by Elisabetta De Palo (guest season 1) as a senior, and by Ingrid Del Genio (guest season 1) as a very young child. *Ludovica Nasti (season 1, guest season 2) and Gaia Girace (seasons 1–3) as Raffaella "Lila" Cerullo, Elena's best friend and, later, Stefano Carracci's wife *Anna Rita Vitolo as Immacolata Greco, Elena's mother *Luca Gallone as Vittorio Greco, a porter and Elena's father *Imma Villa as Manuela Solara (seasons 1–3), Silvio Solara's wife, Michele and Marcello's mother *Antonio Milo as Silvio Solara (season 1; recurring season 2), owner of the Bar Solara *Alessio Gallo as Michele Solara (seasons 2–3; recurring season 1), Silvio and Manuela's son. The character is also portrayed by Adriano Tammaro (recurring season 1) as a child. *Valentina Acca as Nunzia Cerullo (seasons 1–2), Lila's mother *Antonio Buonanno as Fernando Cerullo, a shoemaker and Lila's father *Dora Romano as Miss Oliviero (seasons 1–2), Elena and Lila's elementary school teacher *Nunzia Schiano as Nella Incardo (seasons 1–2), Miss Oliviero's cousin *Giovanni Amura as Stefano Carracci (seasons 2–3; recurring season 1), Don Achille Carracci's son and, later, Lila's husband. The character is also portrayed by Kristijan Di Giacomo (recurring season 1) as a child. *Gennaro De Stefano as Rino Cerullo (season 2; recurring season 1), Lila's older brother and, later, Pinuccia's husband. The character is also portrayed by Tommaso Rusciano (recurring season 1) as a child. *Francesco Serpico as Nino Sarratore (seasons 2–3; recurring season 1), Donato and Lidia's son. The character is also portrayed by Alessandro Nardi (guest season 1) as a child. *Federica Sollazzo as Pinuccia Carracci (season 2; recurring season 1), Don Achille's daughter and, later, Rino's wife. The character is also portrayed by Giuliana Tramontano (recurring season 1) as a child. *Clotilde Sabatino as Professor Galiani (seasons 2–3), Elena's high school teacher. The character is also portrayed by Anna Redi (recurring season 1) as a younger woman. *Ulrike Migliaresi as Ada Cappuccio (season 2; recurring season 1), Melina Cappuccio's daughter. The character is also portrayed by Lucia Manfuso (recurring season 1) as a child. *Christian Giroso as Antonio Cappuccio (season 2; recurring season 1), Melina Cappuccio's son. The character is also portrayed by Domenico Cuomo (recurring season 1) as a child *Eduardo Scarpetta as Pasquale Peluso (seasons 2–3; recurring season 1), Alfredo and Giuseppina's son. The character is also portrayed by Francesco Catena (recurring season 1) as a child. *Giovanni Buselli as Enzo Scanno (seasons 2–3; recurring season 1), Nicola and Assunta's son. The character is also portrayed by Vincenzo Vaccaro (recurring season 1) as a child. *Giovanni Cannata as Armando Galiani (seasons 2–3), Professor Galiani's son *Francesco Russo as Bruno Soccavo (seasons 2–3), Nino's friend *Bruno Orlando as Franco Mari (seasons 2–3), Elena's first boyfriend in Pisa *Daria Deflorian as Adele Airota (seasons 2–3), Pietro Airota's mother *Matteo Cecchi as Pietro Airota (seasons 2–3), Elena's second boyfriend in Pisa *Giulia Mazzarino as Maria Rosa Airota (season 3; recurring season 2), Pietro's sister *Gabriele Vacis as Guido Airota (season 3; recurring season 2), Pietro's father *Maria Vittoria Dallasta as Silvia (season 3), a student and a young mother *Riccardo Palmieri as Gino (season 3; recurring seasons 1–2), Elena's classmate and first boyfriend. He becomes a fascist. *Giorgia Gargano as Nadia Galiani (season 3; recurring season 2), Professor Galiani's daughter *Fabrizio Cottone as Alfonso Carracci (season 3; recurring seasons 1–2), Don Achille's son. The character is also portrayed by Valerio Laviano Saggese (guest season 1) as a child. *Rosaria Langellotto as Gigliola Spagnuolo (season 3; recurring seasons 1–2), their daughter. The character is also portrayed by Alice D'Antonio (guest season 1) as a child. *Pina Di Gennaro as Melina Cappuccio (season 3; recurring seasons 1–2), a crazy widow *Francesca Pezzella as Carmela Peluso (season 3; recurring seasons 1–2), Alfredo and Giuseppina's daughter. The character is also portrayed by Francesca Bellamoli (season 1) as a child. *Sofia Luchetti as Adele Airota (season 3), Elena and Pietro's daughter *Salvatore Tortora as Gennaro "Gennarino" Carracci (season 3), Lila's son *Elvis Esposito as Marcello Solara (season 3; recurring seasons 1–2), Manuela and Silvio's son. The character is also portrayed by Pietro Vuolo (season 1) as a child. *Francesca Montuori as Elisa Greco (season 3), Elena's younger sister. The character is also portrayed by Sara Mauriello (recurring season 1), Cristina Fraticola (recurring seasons 1–2) and Gaia Buongiovanni (recurring season 3; guest season 2) as a child. *Chiara Celotto as Eleonora (season 3), Nino's wife *Sophia Protino as Elsa Airota (season 3), Elena and Pietro's daughter. The character is also portrayed by Aria and Luce Milighetti (guests season 3) as a very young child.

Featured

The following actors are credited in the opening titles of a single episode of the series: *Antonio Pennarella as Don Achille Carracci (season 1), the local mobster *Edu Rejón as Juan (season 3), a student in Milan *Giulia Pica as a doctor (season 3), who provides contraceptives in Naples *Claudio Lardo as Giuntini (season 3), chief editor at

l'Unità ''l'Unità'' (, lit. 'the Unity') was an Italian newspaper, founded as the official newspaper of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) in 1924. It was supportive of that party's successor parties, the Democratic Party of the Left, Democrats of th ...

*Mirko Setaro as Lila's cardiologist (season 3) *Vittorio Ciorcalo as Lila's neurologist (season 3) *Giovanni Toscano as Mario's friend (season 3), a student in Florence *Eugenio Di Fraia as Mario Gioia (season 3), an engineer in Florence *Rebecca Fanucchi as Clelia (season 3), Adele's baby sitter in Florence *Iacopo Ricciotti as Maria Rosa's boyfriend (season 3)

Recurring

;The Grecos *Emanuele Nocerino (season 1), Matteo Castaldo (seasons 1–2) and Daniele Cacciatore (season 3; guest season 2) as Peppe Greco, Elena's younger brother *Thomas Noioso (season 1), Raffaele Nocerino (seasons 1–2) and Davide De Lucia (season 3; guest season 2) as Gianni Greco, Elena's younger brother ;The Carraccis *Sarah Falanga as Maria Carracci (seasons 1–2; guest season 3), Don Achille's wife *Daniel Campagna (guest season 2) and Giuseppe Cortese (season 3; guest season 2) as Gennaro Carracci, Lila's son *Maria Raffaella Cortese as Maria Carracci (guest season 3), Lila's daughter ;The Pelusos *Gennaro Canonico as Alfredo Peluso (season 1), a highly skilled carpenter *Lia Zinno as Giuseppina Peluso (seasons 1–2), Alfredo's wife ;The Sarratores *Emanuele Valenti as Donato Sarratore (seasons 1–2), a train controller *

Fabrizia Sacchi Fabrizia Sacchi (born 10 February 1971) is an Italian actress. Sacchi was born in Naples. Her acting credits include '' Viaggio sola'', '' Fuoriclasse'', '' Medicina generale'' and ''The First Beautiful Thing''. In 2013 she was nominated to Dav ...

as Lidia Sarratore (seasons 1–2), Donato's wife *Cristina Magnotti (season 1) and Miriam D'Angelo (seasons 1–2) as Marisa Sarratore, Donato and Lidia's daughter *Michele Di Costanzo (guest season 1) and Catello Buonomo (season 2; guest season 1) as Pino Sarratore, Donato and Lidia's son *Federica Guarino (guest season 1) and Federica Barbuto (season 2; guest season 1) as Clelia Sarratore, Donato and Lidia's daughter *Gioele Maddi (guest season 1) and Mattia Iapigio (season 2; guest season 1) as Ciro Sarratore, Donato and Lidia's son *Jordan Andres Ayala Robles as Albertino Sarratore (guest season 3), Nino's son *Matthias Strepponi as Mirko Sarratore (guest season 3), Nino's son ;The Scannos *Ciro Pugliese as Nicola Scanno (season 1), a greengrocer *Marina Cioppa as Assunta Scanno (season 1), Nicola's wife ;The Spagnuolos *Mimmo Ruggiero as Mr. Spagnuolo (season 1; guest season 2), pastry chef at Bar Solara *Patrizia Di Martino as Rosa Spagnuolo (season 1; guest season 2), his wife ;The Cerullos *Francesco Saggiomo as Dino Cerullo (season 2), Rino and Pinuccia's son ;The Galianis *Riccardo Russo as Marco Galiani (guest season 3) ;Others *Valentina Arena as Jolanda (season 1; guest seasons 2–3), a stationer *Vittorio Viviani as Mr. Ferraro (season 1), the librarian and an elementary school teacher *Sergio Basile as Professor Gerace (season 1), Elena's high school teacher *Giuseppe Brunetti as Dario (season 2) *Paolo Tarallo as Filippo (season 3)

Guests

*Antonio Maglione as Alfonso (season 1), a friend of Vittorio Greco's *Enrico D'Errico as

Pier Paolo Pasolini Pier Paolo Pasolini (; 5 March 1922 – 2 November 1975) was an Italian poet, filmmaker, writer and intellectual who also distinguished himself as a journalist, novelist, translator, playwright, visual artist and actor. He is considered one of ...

(season 2) *Giustiniano Alpi as Rolando Berti (season 2) *Alessandro Bertoncini as Carlo Fortini (season 2) *Ilaria Zanotti as Giulia Cristaldi (season 2) *Maria Rosaria Bozzon as Titina (season 2), Gennaro's baby sitter *Maurizio Tabani as Professor Tarratano, a critic (seasons 2–3) *Vincenzo Antonucci as Edo (season 3) *Ianua Coeli Linhart as Isabella (season 3) *Antonella Romano as Teresa (season 3) *Giulia Weber as Marcella (season 3) *Roberta Geremicca as Maria (season 3) *Riccardo Fara as Luciano (season 3)

Episodes

Season 1 (2018)

; Notes

Season 2: ''The Story of a New Name'' (2020)

Season 3: ''Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay'' (2022)

Production

Commissioned by

Rai Fiction Rai Fiction is an Italian production company founded in 1997. It is owned and operated by ''Radiotelevisione Italiana'' (RAI), the national broadcasting company of Italy. The company produces content for RAI's channels. The company produces anim ...

, HBO and

, the first season was produced by Italian production companies Wildside and

and international film group

. TIMvision withdrew from the project after the first season, while production companies The Apartment and Mowe joined production for the second season. On February 18, 2020, Gaia Girace announced that she would leave the series after playing Lila in three episodes of the third season, as a new and older actress would be cast for the following episodes. However, the director of the third season, Daniele Luchetti, later opted to retain Girace and Mazzucco for the duration of the season.

Music

The score of the series is composed by

Max Richter Max Richter (; ; born 22 March 1966) is a German-born British composer and pianist. He works within postminimalist and contemporary classical styles. Richter is classically trained, having graduated in composition from the University of Edinburg ...

Season 1

The soundtrack album for the first season was released by

Deutsche Grammophon Deutsche Grammophon (; DGG) is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family of ...

on December 7, 2018, for digital download. It was preceded by the release of the single "Elena & Lila" on November 30, 2018. ;Track listing ;Additional music The first season features additional material from Richter's solo discography.

Season 2

The soundtrack album for the second season was released by

on May 1, 2020, for digital download. The soundtrack features material from Richter's solo discography. ;Track listing

Season 3

The soundtrack album for the third season was released by

on March 4, 2022, for digital download. The soundtrack features material from Richter's solo discography. ;Track listing

Reception

The series has received critical acclaim. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, the first season has a 93% "certified fresh" rating with an average score of 8.4 out of 10 based on 57 reviews. The site's critical consensus is, "''My Brilliant Friend'' is an expansive epic that gleans rapturous beauty from the most desolate of circumstances, but it is the intimacy between the central duo – and the remarkable performances that bring them to life – that audiences will remember most vividly". On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, it has a score of 87 out of 100 based on 20 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'' stated "How revolutionary it still feels to see female friendship explored onscreen in this way. It goes without saying that it takes the

Bechdel test The Bechdel test ( ) is a measure of the representation of women in film (and, by extension, in fiction in general). The test asks whether a film features at least two women talking to each other about something other than a man. The measure som ...

and turns it into ragù." On Rotten Tomatoes, the second season has a 100% "certified fresh" rating with an average score of 9.5 out of 10 based on 15 reviews. The site's critical consensus is, "Gorgeously shot and full of incredible performances, ''My Brilliant Friend''s second season expands its small world with rich results." On Metacritic, it has a score of 92 out of 100 based on 8 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". On Rotten Tomatoes, the third season has a 100% "certified fresh" rating with an average score of 9.2 out of 10 based on 11 reviews. On Metacritic, it has a score of 96 out of 100 based on 6 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". In 2019, ''My Brilliant Friend'' was nominated for a

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...

Home media

On April 2, 2019,

HBO Home Entertainment Home Box Office, Inc. (HBO) is an American multinational media and entertainment company operating as a unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. Founded by Charles Dolan and based out of WarnerMedia's former corporate headquarters at the 30 Hudson Yard ...

released the first season on DVD and

Digital Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits. Technology and computing Hardware *Digital electronics, electronic circuits which operate using digital signals ** Digital camera, which captures and stores digital ...

in region 1.

Notes

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 2010s Italian drama television series 2010s American drama television series 2020s Italian drama television series 2018 American television series debuts 2018 Italian television series debuts 2020s American drama television series HBO original programming Italian-language television shows Television series set in the 1950s Television series set in the 1960s Television series set in the 1970s Television shows set in Italy Television series by Fremantle (company) Television series based on works by Elena Ferrante