My Brilliant Friend: An Extreme Close-up of Gender Inequality

The Neapolitan Novels, a tetralogy of Elena Ferrante’s novels, is one of the most famous works of contemporary literature. At the heart of the story are two friends, who oppose the patriarchal social patterns and demands in post-war Naples. In 2018, they started shooting its TV adaptation My Brilliant Friend (L’amica geniale, 2018–), which was directed by the Italian filmmaker Saverio Costanzo. In the article, the author focuses on the relationship between the novels and their TV adaptation, and the series’ depiction of gender inequality, emancipation and art with a female touch, which inevitably includes the Ferrante phenomenon and the author’s anonymity.