My Brilliant Friend Series 2: The Story Of A New Name

“Two children from a poor neighbour-
hood in 1950s Naples, Italy, become
best friends who are inseparable; but
as they grow up they walk different paths
and the distance between them waxes
and wanes as one marries for money
and security and the other follows her
educational ambitions as they endure
love, loss and hardship in the compelling
and fascinating My Brilliant Friend
Series 2: The Story Of A New Name...”

IN A POVERTY-STRICKEN NAPLES neighbourhood in the 1950s, Elena "Lenù" Greco (Elisa Del Genio) and Raffaella "Lila" (Ludovica Nasti) become best friends and although Lila shows promise as a writer, her parents cannot afford to keep her in school and it is Elena who is able to reach her full potential.

As beautiful teenagers during the 1960s in My Brilliant Friend Series 2: The Story Of A New Name, Elena (Margherita Mazzucco) and Lila Cerullo (Gaia Girace) remain close. Lila marries the well-to-do Stefano Carracci (Giovanni Amura) but on their way to their honeymoon on the beautiful Amalfi Coast, it becomes obvious that the marriage will never be a happy one as Stefano determines how the marriage will be and on their wedding night demands his marital rights.

“A gorgeous,
evocative and deeply
compelling story about
a 1960s mob-ruled,
poverty-stricken
neighbourhood in Naples
and an unbreakable
bond between two girls.
A delightful flavour of
Naples past...”

Elena has been seeing Antonio Cappuccio (Christian Giroso), but is not sure if she wants to be with him forever, as she wants to further her education. She is smitten with fellow student Nino Sarratore (Francesco Serpico), who enjoys her company and seeks her out but shows no interest in taking things further.

As Lila becomes desperately unhappy and Elena throws herself into her studies, the gulf between them widens; but it seems that fate has other ideas and Elena begins visiting Lila, having learned that she is back from her honeymoon.

Stefano is hand-in-glove with the wealthy and notorious Solara gangster family who trade with him on their terms. Lila designs shoes and the feared Solaras are able to use their influence to sell them. Without them, Stefano explains to Lila, they have nothing.

Stefano tells Lila that it was her father Fernando Cerullo (Antonio Buonanno), a shoemaker, and her brother Rino (Gennaro De Stefano) who made the deal with Marcello Solara (Elvis Esposito) and therefore it was her family's fault, not his. Marcello also believes that her friends Pasquale Peluso (Edouardo Scarpeta), Enzo Scanno (Giovanni Buseli) and Antonio Cappuccio burned his car and that Rino convinced Marcello they were guilty.

Lila appears to be making the best of a bad marriage and she invites Elena to study at her luxury apartment. The distance between them shrinks as they rekindle their friendship.

However, when Lila goes away with Elena, who has arranged to meet Nino while he is with his family, things take a turn for the worse. Nino has been seeing Nadia (Georgia Gargano) the daughter of Professor Galiani (Clotilde Sabatino) but he becomes infatuated with Lila and they begin an affair.

When Lila returns to Stefano, who has now taken Ada Cappuccio (Ulrike Migliaresi) as his mistress, she is pregnant with Nino's child and he accepts the child as his.

Elena leaves Naples at the age of 19 to go to the university in Pisa, where she meets Franco Mari (Bruno Orlando) and for a while she seems happy. Elena finds it difficult to connect with other students although she is well thought of by the professors, but Franco is not serious about his studies and eventually leaves.

Finally Elena meets Pietro Airota (Matteo Cecchi) who wants to help her get her book published. But on her return to Naples she seeks out Lila who, on her own with her child Rino, named after her brother, has fallen on hard times.

The award-winning, much loved Neapolitan Novels by Italian author Elena Ferrante come alive on the screen and are a fascinating patchwork of love, loss, betrayal and a powerful female friendship played out against a deprived background. This fabulous Italian-language adaptation, My Brilliant Friend Series 2: The Story Of A New Name aired on Sky Atlantic in the Summer of 2020.

A gorgeous, evocative and deeply compelling story about a 1960s mob-ruled, poverty-stricken neighbourhood in Naples and an unbreakable bond between two girls that persists despite envy, rivalry and betrayal. A delightful flavour of Naples past.

We could not stop watching this series. There are some scenes of a sexual nature, including one of female nudity, and some violence. We urge anyone (like us!) who is unable to enter a butcher's shop to fast forward when Elena visits Lila at the salami factory.

My Brilliant Friend Series 2: The Story Of A New Name also features: Voiceover by Alba Rohrwacher; Antonio Mila as Silvio Solara, owner of Bar Solara; Imma Villa as Manuela Solara; Alessio Gallo as Michele Solara; Fabrizio Cottone as Alfonso Carracci; Miriam D'Angelo as Marisa Sarratore; Pina De Gennaro as Melina; Valentina Acca as Nunzia Cerullo, Lila's mother; Anna Rita Vitolo as Immacolata, Elena's mother; Luca Gallone as Vittorio Greco, Elena's father, a porter; and Frederica Sollazzo as Pinuccia, Don Achilles' daughter, Rino's wife.

Music is by Max Richter; Director of Photography is Fabio Gianchetti and Hélène Louvart; Written by Elena Ferrante, Francesco Piccolo, Laura Paolucci and Saverio Costanzo; Producers are: Nadia Khanilichi, Martin Metz, Laura Paolucci, Sara Polese, Beata Saboova, Francesco Nardella, Adrian Politowski, and Luigi Mariniello; and Directed by Saverio Costanzo (Hungry Hearts) and Alice Rohrwacher (Happy as Lazzarro).

* Following a run on Sky Atlantic, My Brilliant Friend Series 2: The Story Of A New Name is released by Acorn Media International in the UK on Digital on 10 July 2020 and on DVD on 27 July 2020. Certificate: 15 | Running Time: 480 Minutes on 2 Discs | Catalogue Number: AV3600 | RRP: £24.99. Extras: 3 Making Of Featurettes.

"My Brilliant Friend Series 2: The Story Of A New Name… A gorgeous, evocative and deeply compelling story about a 1960s mob-ruled, poverty-stricken neighbourhood in Naples and an unbreakable bond between two girls. A delightful flavour of Naples past" — **** Maggie Woods, MotorBar

"Oozing sheer brilliance and cinematic luminosity… this really is a golden age of television" — ***** Pick of the Day, Mail on Sunday

"Sensational" — ***** Financial Times

"Exquisitely cinematic… intimate, nuanced and ravishingly shot" — Telegraph

"The most honest and vivid portrait of the lives of young girls ever brought to TV" — **** The Guardian

"As satisfying as a bowl of gelato on a hot summer's day… funny, sad, smart and looks amazing too!" — The Sun TV Magazine

"As lauded as the books… stunning" — Critic's Choice, The Times

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