My Brilliant Friend trailer: HBO brings to life Elena Ferrante's best-selling novel in upcoming TV series

HBO released the first official trailer for its joint production with Italian broadcaster RAI of My Brilliant Friend, about the volatile friendship between two girls from Naples in the 1950s. Set to the Spring concerto of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons (recomposed by Max Richter), the trailer follows the bookish Elena Greco and her enigmatic friend Lila from their dirt-poor childhood in post-war Naples. [caption id=“attachment_5128681” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] A still from My Brilliant Friend. HBO[/caption] The eight episode series is based on the first of the four so-called Neapolitan novels that have become best-sellers in the United States and much of Europe, fueling intense speculation about the writer, who uses Elena Ferrante as a pseudonym. Her decision to hide behind a pen-name and not publicly identify herself is a real-life literary mystery story that has added to the allure of her books. The first two episodes of My Brilliant Friend screened at the Venice Film Festival this week to warm reviews. The Hollywood Reporter said the series had got off to an “extraordinarily promising beginning,” adding, “My Brilliant Friend is blissfully neither based in a gauzy nostalgia nor mired in an affected documentary-style misery porn. It simply and cleanly embraces the details of everyday life, occasionally dirty or impoverished or ominous, spiked with moments of memory-infused whimsy.” Variety said: My Brilliant Friend is an impressive effort, a translation of novel to screen that preserves certain of its literary qualities while transmuting others into moving and effective TV. The series is directed by Saverio Costanzo with Elisa Del Genio and Ludovica Nasti playing the child version of Elena and Lisa and Gaia Girace and Margherita Mazzucco playing the teenaged version. My Brilliant Friend is expected to premiere on HBO in November. Watch the trailer here:

(With inputs from Reuters)