While Season 1 of “My Brilliant Friend” is being repeated on RAI3, shooting is still taking place on Story of the Lost Child, final chapter of the television adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s novels
My Brilliant Friend is the story of the long friendship between Elena “Lenù” Greco and Raffaella “Lila” Cerullo, which begins as children in the working-class Rione Luzzatti area of Naples and continues as they grow up and take separate paths, the link between them never breaking completely. The story, which begins in the Fifties, reflects the great changes taking place in Italy and in the status of women in society.
An international coproduction from RAI and HBO, the story and screenplay are by Elena Ferrante, Francesco Piccolo, Laura Paolucci and Saverio Costanzo, while this season is directed by Laura Bispuri, who follows Saverio Costanzo (Seasons 1 & 2), Alice Rohrwacher (Season 2), Daniele Luchetti (Season 3).
Executive producers are Saverio Costanzo, Paolo Sorrentino, Jennifer Schuur, Elena Recchia and Guido De Laurentiis. International distribution by Fremantle in association with RAI Com. The series has been exported to 170 countries thus far.
Locations
The main set for the earlier seasons of My Brilliant Friend was a 1950s reconstruction of rione Luzzatti, a neighbourhood of Naples in Poggioreale, which was built on a 20,000 sqm lot outside Caserta, at the former Saint-Gobain factory in Marcianise: here the two girls live with their families, friends and acquaintances. Recurring locations include some of Naples’ most iconic locations, the historical centre, Posillipo, Ischia and beaches near Gaeta. (summary and locations of My Brilliant Friend).
As they grow, the two women take different paths: Lila stays attached to her place of origin, while Elena goes on to study at the Università Normale in Pisa and begins to write, moving from Milan to Turin and later to Florence, a city that plays an important role in Season 3. (summary and locations of Those who leave and those who stay).
Setting and location of Season 4
Story of the Lost Child, which closes the Neapolitan Quartet, takes place in a time frame that extends from the 1980s to the 2010s. Naples is still the primary setting, featuring via Petrarca, the hill of Posillipo, and recurring locations in the historical centre such as piazza del Plebiscito, piazza Mercato, lungomare Francesco Caracciolo, piazza Dante, largo San Marcellino, in the heart of the Decumani where the University Federico II is located.
The production also shot in Caserta (in a stretch of corso Trieste including piazza Dante and around the Reggia), Turin and Florence.
(Article by: Italyformovies.com, Monica Sardelli)
