My Brilliant Friend (Series)
L’amica Geniale
Early 1950s, in a small neighborhood in Naples, Italy, the young Lenu befriends young Lila. Two girls with distinct personalities soon started a friendship that would alter the course of their lives.
I’m always drawn to movie or series that depict complex human relationships between families, friends and lovers. That’s why “This is Us” is my all-time favorite series. It’s always interesting to see the complete life story of a person, keeps you thinking who you used to be and wondering who you’ll turn out to be.
Lenu is the narrator of the story and a quiet observer who rarely shows her emotions on screen. A polite and caring girl, she is the one who always behaves and everyone loves, but underneath her calm exterior lies a sentimental soul that frequently overthinks and constantly struggles to find her own voice.
Lenu might not be the brightest student, but she had the strongest will to leave the “pleb” life. Against all odds, she studied her way out of the poor neighborhood and made everyone proud by finishing school with top grades, marrying a wealthy professor and writing a bestselling novel.
After all the hard work, she finally gets all that she deserves, but it comes with a growing discontent. She’ s been told what to do all her life and had followed the instructions faithfully: study, marry well, be a good wife and mother. But as an independent woman, she also yearned for true freedom and passionate love.
When she finally decides to stop pleasing others and start going her own way, she made the decision to leave her family and run away with her Prince Charming, a decision driven by irrational desires and obsession.
Lenu’s behavior can be easily denounced as immature and irresponsible, especially with her level-headedness and intelligence, but her reasons are only human. The dull marriage life, an undesirable partner and tough motherhood all wore her down, and the struggle to balance career, family and individuality resonates.
Nonetheless, it’s still baffling to me why after all that she’s seen and been through, she still chose this potentially destructive path. Perhaps the most important reason is the fact that Lila had done it, and Lenu wants to show that she, too, has the resolve and power to shape her reality.
Abandoning her life behind for a handsome yet pretentious dick doesn’t exactly spell happy forever after. I guess love do turn us blind. It’ll be interesting to see how it all turns out in the upcoming final season.
Lila is the complete opposite of Lenu. She is a pioneer with a character and a fearless spirit who refuses all patriarchal bullshit. With her quick wit and unconventional intelligence, she made herself a force to be reckoned with wherever she goes. In school, in the family shoe shop and in the factory, she never fails to go her own way and amid all the hardships, remains true to herself.
Like every girl in the neighborhood, Lila wanted to get rid of poverty, but when she realized it would compromise her integrity and freedom as a woman, she had no problem walking away and returning to the hard working class life. That is Lila through and through.
Lila is also uncannily resourceful, making use of her multi-faceted attractiveness to achieve her agenda. Her mysterious, unpredictable and contradictory nature somehow makes her extremely attractive. Literally every male character has a crush on her, from gangsters to professors to the grocery boy. They see her as a challenge to be conquered, which is precisely why none of them succeeded, while she simply sees them as means to her end.
The relationship between Lila and Lenu is, without a doubt, a complex one, and the power dynamics between them is, like most friendships, a mix of genuine care, deep affection and inevitable comparison.
Ever since they went together to retrieve their dolls from a bully, they’ve been supporting each other. Lila supported Lenu through her education, while Lenu helped Lila when she fell ill. They also compliment each other well. Lenu’s composure keeps Lila’s wild temper and impulsive manners in check, while Lila’s knowledge and confidence assures Lenu.
Together, they break gender stereotypes and societal boundaries, forming a beautiful friendship filled with joy and love.
That being said, imagine feeling all the time that your best friend is better than you at everything. She is smarter, prettier and even has the love of your childhood crush.
When Lenu writes, she only cares about Lila’s opinion, even though Lila only finished elementary school. When Lila starts reading again, she felt threatened that Lila would catch up to her. She sees Lila in the mirror when she dress up. It seems as if Lenu is the supporting character in her own story.
No matter how successful Lenu thinks she is, Lila’s presence would always overshadow her. They may be in this life journey together, but for Lenu, it’s also a lifelong effort to catch up, despite her supposedly being the “brilliant” one.
Even though Lila seldom felt that way, the comparison can still go both ways.
When Lenu invited Lila to a classy party, Lila couldn’t fit in and deliberately mocked Lenu for being pretentious. Fueling the conflict with her straightforwardness, Lila has no problem downplaying Lenu to reassure herself and overcome insecurities.
This petty tit for tat gradually went away as they entered adulthood, but the battle scars often take much longer to heal. For Lenu, that may never happen.
In any relationship, we seem to be constantly asking, who has the upper edge? And from that question comes admiration, jealousy, resentment and all hosts of feelings. Perhaps the overarching question is, with all our differences in gender, age, intellect, wealth, social roles, principles…, can our relationships truly be equal? or are they simply political tradeoffs in which we give some and take some?
Apart from Lenu and Lila, there are many memorable female characters in the story. It’s interesting to see the life choices and perspectives of these women in a world dominated by men.
Lenu’s mother is a strong supporting character. She had always opposed Lenu to study and wanted her to settle in the neighborhood, like herself and all the other girls. On the other hand, she felt the slight excitement that her daughter may actually have a chance to break the cycle. Despite some nasty arguments between the two, she still supported Lenu through all her hardships. This sort of tough love hits home and is universally relatable.
A constant stand out of the series is the level of control of men over women, from husbands, fathers, boyfriends to even little boys. While this machismo is not unique to the country, the series still did a great job with its brutal and honest depiction of a patriarchal society.
Lila’s father sucked up to the rich at Lila’s expense and never truly appreciated her talent. Her brother Rino and husband Stefano are no better, if not worse.
It’s not to say that they don’t mean well. Living for generations in poverty, one might imagine the heavy burden on their shoulders and the subsequent desire to lift the family out of poverty at all cost, but the end don’t justify the means. Throwing your daughter out of the window because she asked to go to school is simply unacceptable, neither is marrying your daughter against her will and ask her to “take it for the family”.
Things don’t fare well on Lenu’s side either. The daily harassments and atrocities inflicted on her are unwatchable, which makes it even more unbearable when she decided to concede to a pleasure-seeking man.
While we’re no longer in the 1950s and have made good progress, this machismo is still very much alive. It’s infuriating how some men charm women into love and then treat them like shit. There seem to be an inner fear in men that if women are more accomplished, they would not only look bad but also lose control of the situation, so they exert their male dominance however they can. Families, couples, colleagues and friend, this toxic masculinity still lurks around in our daily life.
Apart from its heartfelt depiction of earthly relationships, the series also ticks on many other levels. The sharp cinematography and beautiful soundtrack defined its elegant style, while the story itself offered a glimpse into the rich culture and history of Italy.
The performance from the two leads, Gaia Girace and Margherita Mazzucco, are simply superb. You just can’t imagine Lila not played by Gaia and Lenu not played by Margherita.
In real life, they share many traits with their on-screen characters, and from the series documentary, you see how they’re really facing similar issues as they’re filming the show, which probably explains why they’re effortlessly genuine.
On the other hand, kudos to the two child actors who played the younger version of Lila and Lenu for three episodes. Their raw yet stellar portrayal lay excellent foundation for the series and got me hooked instantly!
A moving coming-of-age story with pleasing aesthetics, strong performance and slow-burn yet satisfying storytelling,《L’amica Geniale》explores friendships, love and womanhood in all its complexities. A pleasure to watch for sure!
