![]() ![]() It’s serious, novelistic art, and verified prestige television-the sort of show we’re told we have to watch, as if television were homework, or eating one's cultural vegetables. The show has also drawn the heavy weight of critical praise. The “brilliance” of our heroines, Lila Cerullo ( Gaia Girace) and Elena Greco ( Margherita Mazzucco), is both a blessing and a curse. Marriage is not just the destination but the whole journey. Opportunities for them aren’t limited so much as they are obliterated before anyone tries anything funny. Women in Ferrante’s Naples are not valued for smarts but looks, birthing hips, and obedience. Though this is, of course, a big part of that weight. It’s also a heavy watch, and not just because of its subject matter-two poor girls enduring life in impoverished 1950s Naples. Season one of My Brilliant Friend, HBO’s adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Novels, is full of small moments of aesthetic pleasure-a glittering sea, a beautifully handmade leather Italian shoe, a vibrant batch of fresh fruit. ![]()
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