Netflix has released the teaser trailer for “The Lying Life of Adults,” a six-episode adaptation of the eponymous novel by Elena Ferrante which will drop globally on the streamer on Jan. 4, 2023.
“Lying Life,” which is directed by Neapolitan helmer Edoardo De Angelis (“Indivisible”), stars Valeria Golino in the role of the crass and enigmatic Neapolitan aunt of the story’s young protagonist, named Giovanna, played by newcomer Giordana Marengo.
The Ferrante book depicts Giovanna’s transition from childhood to adolescence during the 1990s in a Naples that is actually two kindred cities that fear and loathe one another: the upper crust Naples of the high-quarters, where a mask of refinement is worn, and the Naples of its more vulgar and exciting low quarters where her intriguing aunt Vittoria lives.
Giovanna vacillates between these two sides of the city, neither one offering answers or escape.
Alessandro Preziosi (“Medici”) plays Giovanna’s father, Andrea, while Pina Turco (“Gomorrah”) plays her mother, Nella.
Speaking about “Lying Life” at a Netflix slate presentation earlier this year, the streamer’s VP of Italian original series Eleonora Andreatta noted that it has very different characteristics compared to “My Brilliant Friend,” beginning with the 1990s time period in which “Lying Life” is set.
Andreatta – who was instrumental in shepherding that HBO/RAI Ferrante show when she was head of drama at the public broadcaster – also underlined that De Angelis, who made an international splash in 2016 with “Invisible,” a drama about Neapolitan teenage conjoined twin sisters, has put his distinctively dreamy but grotesque stamp on the show.
De Angelis has co-written the show with Laura Paolucci and Francesco Piccolo — both scribes on “My Brilliant Friend” — as well as Ferrante herself. The new Ferrante adaptation is being produced for Netflix by Domenico Procacci’s Fandango.
Watch the trailer below
