My Brilliant Friend Moves Back to Naples

As I delve deeper into the captivating world of “My Brilliant Friend,” I find myself enamored by the raw emotions and compelling narratives that unfold before my eyes. The series, a testament to the power of female friendship and resilience, has managed to weave an intricate tapestry of human experiences that resonates deeply within me.


It’s time to bid farewell again to the most captivatingly melancholic Italians on TV as “My Brilliant Friend,” the critically acclaimed HBO adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s works, returns for its fourth and concluding season on September 9. The upcoming ten-episode season, titled “The Story of the Lost Child,” will be directed by Laura Bispuri and feature an older cast. Since its debut in season one, Alba Rohrwacher (“La Chimera”) has been providing voice-over narration for the series. In this final season, Rohrwacher embodies Elena Greco, also known as Lenù, a successful author who’s left behind her impoverished past and sought an impressive education, married into a distinguished Milanese family, and raised two daughters of her own. However, after uprooting her life for a man, she finds herself grappling with the tension between her growing fame as a feminist writer and her guilt over abandoning her family, while ignoring calls from Lila (Irene Maiorino). As Lenù travels through Italy with Nino (Fabrizio Gifuni), the enigmatic and unpredictable love interest she’s harbored feelings for since childhood, she neglects Lila’s pleas for help.

In the gritty, turbulent neighborhood on the outskirts of Naples where they grew up, Lila now manages a tech company and persistently undermines the former bosses, the Solaras. Yet, despite Lenù’s relentless efforts to change and move forward, she finds herself forever bound to her origins. At the end of the trailer, an inquisitive Lila asks a bewildered Lenù if she is indeed returning to Naples, her smile carrying both affection and threat.

In the approaching season, the friends reunite in Naples for the first time since their childhood days, following which Margherita Mazzucco and Gaia Girace, who delivered heartwarming performances as the girls from adolescence up until early adulthood, bid farewell. However, don’t be disheartened: Rohrwacher and Maiorino (who convincingly portray an older version of Gaia) are just as captivating as your beloved female companions, and a significant portion of the large cast will return. So long to the summer with its tense friendships and remixes; we’re moving forward into a season filled with complex friendships.

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2024-08-06 17:53