Trigger alert: To those for whom the exquisite pain of first unrequited love still scalds, Episode 4 of this season of “My Brilliant Friend,” titled “The Kiss,” could freshen those wounds.
It’s an effective juxtaposition to experience Lenu’s (Margherita Mazzucco) internal torment — over learning that the broodingly handsome and cocksure Nino Sarratore (Francesco Serpico) prefers her best friend Lila (Gaia Girace) to her — against the beautiful backdrop of Ischia, a volcanic island at the edge of the gulf of Naples.
The emotions are volcanic, too, with Lenu devastated at the episode’s end by this awful revelation.“The Kiss” is the first episode of the season to be directed by Alice Rohrwacher, whose sister, the actress Alba Rohrwacher, provides the narration for the series (and will presumably play the next phase of grown-up Lenu next season).
The director of last year’s surreal Netflix movie “Happy as Lazzaro,” Rohrwacher
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