‘Deceitful Love’: Let Granny Have Fun!

I think even on Jupiter they are talking about the new Italian Netflix miniseries, Deceitful Love ( based on Gold Digger, a 2019 BBC limited series). Get ready to enter a tangled dimension that takes melodrama to its maximum and most exaggerated levels.

If you’re telling a story about the romance between a 60-year-old woman and a 30-year-old man (same age as her eldest son) that takes place on the paradisiacal Amalfi coast, we need a load of melodrama, but we’re talking Titanic level with this show. And when it comes to drama, suspense, sex all over the place at any time in any position…forbidden love (or so-called love), lies and exaggeratedly ominous phrases that no human, unless he believes himself to be the reincarnation of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, would say in real life about needs, desires and their complexities, and, obviously, everyday life’s pain and grief, well, Italians are the masters of the genre.

That’s why everyone is watching this show, starring the great and almost legendary Monica Guerritore and Giacomo Gianniotti; Do you remember Dr. Andrew DeLuca, the same one who knew Meredith Grey’s anatomy very well? It’s this guy.

A Granny in Full

We know that there are plenty of stories with male characters who date much younger women. And certainly, now there is this almost woke-crave to equalize the roles and we have characters played by women who date men younger than them. But, when these women are, say, Nicole Kidman or Demi Moore, Come on! Everything turns into a bad joke. And this is where the interesting thing about Deceitful Love starts: since it is not made in Hollywood,  Italians shoot to the point, there’s no need for botox: Monica Guerritore plays Gabriella, who just turned 60, and who looks like she’s really 60. She has wrinkles and all the normal things for someone her age, but at the same time, it has plenty of elegance and yes, she is very attractive. She looks real, and that is awesome.; he is not a Milf…but a Gilf.

By mere chance, she meets this 30-year-old young man, Elia (Giacomo Gianniotti), who suffers an accident, she helps him and that’s it. Gabriella’s great adventure has just begun. The romance (to use a fancy word) between them ignites almost immediately.

Gabriella owns a hotel on the Amalfi coast. She has two sons and a daughter, the eldest is Stefano (Emanuel Caserio), he is the age or looks contemporary with Elia; then Giulia (Dharma Mangia Woods) and the youngest, Nico (Francesco Del Gaudio). It turns out that Gabriella doesn’t know how to drive and when she meets Elia, she receives a call; Giulia has had surgery, she is in the hospital. Like a good gentleman, Elia offers to take her. Exchange of glances along the way, you know what this is like. But Gabriella is not Mrs. Robinson from The Graduate. Gabriella is a dull woman, without passion; She feels that her best time, if she ever had anything like it, has passed and will not return. It is as if she has retired, not from her job, but from being a woman.

At the hospital everything is fine, but when Gabriella leaves, she sees that Elia is still there, waiting for her, again Gabriella has to go somewhere, before she calls a taxi, good Elia offers to take her and she accepts. Stefano notices it and the logical thing happens. That’s when Stefano, Giulia and Nico’s conspiracy theory is born: this guy wants mom’s money. And well, anyone would think that. What they don’t know is that their mother is about to emerge from the tomb of boredom, to be reborn and feel not only love, affection but… Holy Mother of God, passion and sex that she didn’t even know existed. And if you don’t get the idea, I’ll say it clearly: Elia will almost overdose Gabriella on sex during these six episodes.

But all imaginable and even predictable plot twists occur.  Deceitful Love is not inventing anything, it is a product full of tropes, overacting and few surprises, but on the whole, it works very well: it is like sitting in front of a huge chocolate cake dipped in cream, but it turns out that you don’t have plates, a knife or napkins, you will end up eating it with your hands, covered in chocolate but enjoying it! Deceitful Love is that chocolate cake. And one of these first big non-surprises is that Gabriella knows that Elia has seen another woman, also her age, another Gilf.

The new Gabriella, who now dares to do anything, meets with her apparent rival…who is actually… Elia’s mother, who recommends that she not go out with her son. And when someone’s mom suggests not having a relationship with someone who came from her womb, I think it’s a good idea to listen to her. But Gabriella doesn’t listen to her or her family or anyone, she only has ears for her libido.

Within the plot twists we arrive at the reality of Elia, who actually…I don’t want to give you spoilers, but you can imagine that he is not the best guy in the world. And suddenly another character enters that at least I was expecting to emerge: Elia’s girlfriend or ex, Marina (Denise Capezza), who is pregnant and staying at Gabriella’s hotel. And this is what leads to exploring the central theme of the series: choices, the things you want in your life and how you want to feel and at what cost.

Does Elia love her or not? I won’t tell you that, I invite you to discover it. But I will tell you what Gabriella decides to do: pay Marina to disappear from their lives, because despite everything, even if Elia loves her or wants her money (and this decision sadly has to do with something that ties her to her own past), the only truth is that Gabriella is enjoying herself like never before at an age when she has already fulfilled the formalities of life. And all I can say is: Let’s go girl, keep having fun and orgasms! And if the world falls apart, well, so be it.