Netflix will release The Lying Life of Adults, a six-episode series based on Elena Ferrante’s novel (published in Italy by Edizioni E/O), in all the countries where the streaming service is active on 4 January 2023.
Directed by Edoardo De Angelis, the series stars Valeria Golino as Vittoria and Giordana Marengo as Giovanna. Alessandro Preziosi plays Andrea, Giovanna’s father and Pina Turco her mother, Nella.
The series offers a powerful, unusual portrait of Giovanna’s journey from childhood to adolescence in the 1990s. The search for a new chapter, after the happiness of her childhood, oscillates between two interrelated aspects of Naples that hate and fear each other: the upper city which has adopted an elegant mask and the lower which fakes a lack of restraint, a superficiality. Giovanna moves between the two, slipping at times, clambering up at times, disoriented by the fact that the city appears to have no answer nor escape, neither up nor down.
The reference point in “upper” Naples is via San Giacomo dei Capri, in Rione Alto which comprises the Vomero-Arenella neighbourhoods: the world of Giovanna, who lives an apparently happy life with her family, unfurls around these streets. The locations include Posillipo and one of the best views of the city, the rampe di Sant’Antonio, a panoramic viewpoint over the gulf of Naples and mount Vesuvius.
However, there comes a point in her adolescence when Giovanna feels the needs to find out more about herself, she wants to get to know her new face and to do so she must descend to the “other” Naples where her father’s family – whom she has never met – lives. Here the city changes look, colour and appearance. Locations for the production included via Carlo di Tocco and via Emanuele Gianturco, in the zona industriale, via Traccia in Poggioreale, and the neighbouring streets of via Domenico de Roberto and via del Macello. In addition to these two neighbourhoods, Rione Luzzatti was also used for the shoot.
The Lying Life of Adults is written by Elena Ferrante, Laura Paolucci, Francesco Piccolo and Edoardo De Angelis and produced by Fandango.