If you have not yet seen the wonderful adaptation of My Brilliant Friend on Sky, you can watch online. The series is based on pseudonymous author Elena Ferrante’s first Neopolitan novel and it explores the friendship between Elena and Lila. My Brilliant Friend is the first in the series, and also the first to be adapted for television.
Filmed in Italian, the eight-episode drama focuses on Elena’s memories of their early friendship in Naples, Italy, in the 1950s, when the pair live very different lives.
Here are the main characters:
Elena Greco (Lenu)
The narrator of the novel. Lenu is intelligent and academically successful. She has a long, close friendship with Lila.
Raffaella Cerullo (Lila/Lina)
Lila is the daughter of a shoemaker. She is beautiful and charismatic, even from a young age, but also manipulative.
Fernando Cerullo
Fernando is Lila’s father, a shoemaker.
Nunzia Cerullo
Nunzia is the wife of Fernando, and mother of Lila, Rino, and several other children.
Rino Cerullo (older)
Rino is Lila’s older brother. He takes over the father’s business as a shoemaker.
Rino (younger)
Lila’s son. He is forty years old at the start of the novel.
Mr Greco
Elena’s father who works as a porter.
Mrs Greco
Elena’s mother who is difficult but occasionally supportive towards her daughter’s ambitions.
Don Achille Carracci
A madman in the neighborhood. He is the father of Stefano, who Lila marries at the end of the novel. Don Achille is murdered when Lila and Elena are children.
Maria Carracci
The wife of Don Achille, and mother of Stefano, Pinuccia and Alfonso, as well as other children.
Stefano Carracci
The eldest son of Don Achille and Maria. After his father’s death, he takes an active role in running the family grocery store. Stefano marries Lila.
Pinuccia Carracci
Stefano’s sister, the daughter of Don Achille and Maria.
Alfonso Carracci
The son of Don Achille and Maria, and brother to Stefano and Pinuccia
Alfredo Peluso and Giuseppina Peluso
Alfredo is a carpenter and Giuseppina is his wife. They have several children, including Carmen and Pasquale.
Pasquale Peluso
Pasquale is Carmen’s brother who works in construction. He expresses romantic feelings towards Elena but is also infatuated with Lila.
Carmela (Carmen) Peluso
Sister of Pasquale. She enjoys a close friendship with both Lila and Elena.
Melina Cappuccio
Melina is a mentally unstable widow, who is distantly related to Lila’s mother. She is the mother of Ada and Antonio. She is notorious for having an affair with Donato Sarratore.
Ada Cappuccio
The daughter of Melina.
Antonio Cappuccio
The son of Melina and brother to Ada. He works as a mechanic, and he and Elena are romantically involved during her teenage years.
Donato Sarratore
Works as a train conductor and is a very reserved and serious man. He is married to Lidia Sarratore and the father of five children, including Nino and Marisa. He has an affair with Melina. He is a poet who publishes a book of poems. While he is staying at the same vacation home as Elena, he makes advances towards her.
Lidia Sarratore
Wife of Donato and mother to Nino and Marisa, as well as other children.
Nino Sarratore
The son of a railroad worker; Nino is very intellectual and serious. Elena has romantic feelings for him from a young age and these continue throughout her adolescence.
Marisa Sarratore
Nino’s sister. During their time on the island of Ischia, Elena and Marisa develop a friendship.
Nicola and Assunta Scanno
Nicola is a fruit and vegetable seller, and Assunta is his wife.
Enzo Scanno
Enzo is the eldest son of Nicola. He is part of the same circle as Elena and Lila.
Silvio and Manuela Solara
Silvio is the owner of a bar and pastry shop known as the Solara Bar. Manuela is his wife, and the mother of their two sons.
Marcello Solara
The elder of the two Solara brothers. As his family’s wealth and influence grows, Marcello becomes a notorious figure. He is obsessed with Lila and pursues her aggressively. She, however, rejects his marriage proposal and marries Stefano instead.
Michele Solara
The younger Solara brother.
Gigliola Spagnuola
The daughter of a pastry maker. Gigliola is also very intelligent, and she goes with Elena to middle school.
Gino
A boy who is the son of a pharmacist. He is romantically interested in Elena, and they are in a brief relationship but she is never truly attracted to him.
Maestra Oliviero
A teacher who has known Elena and Lila since their childhoods. She takes a keen interest in the education of both girls, and is bitterly disappointed that Lila does not pursue her studies, as she feels that her intelligence is being wasted.
Nella Incardo
She is the cousin of Maestra Oliviera and owns a house on the island of Ischia, where she rents out rooms. Elena stays with her during the summer and spends time with the Sarratore family, who are also staying at the same house.
