DN:FILM Ferrante Fever

FERRANTE FEVER, a mostly-Italian-language celebration of the successfully anonymous author of My Brilliant Friend and other novels, maintains an elegant cool even while it documents the febrile affection that 50 million Elana fans gladly suffer.

After opening with the high-octane endorsement of Hillary Clinton (a voiceover of exuberant enthusiasm) played over street scenes of New York (the city where Ferrante tipped over from lauded to adored), the doc moves on to an array of Italian and American publishing and filmmaking notables—Ferrante’s American translator, Ann Goldstein, Neapolitan film director Mario Martone, writer Jonathan Franzen—who offer one explanation after another for her phenomenal success. These literary/intellectual proceedings are interspersed with animations and film effects that evoke the elusive Ferrante. And, as it turns out, the core of the documentary is a document from her, whoever she is. In her own words and in those of her admirers, the point is made that her fascinating anonymity isn’t the reason for her success; rather, her dedication to the work of writing is.

As much as a challenge as it is to talk compellingly about good writing, “Ferrante Fever” gives the undertaking a run for its money. The result is that, for those already afflicted, the doc is one those affirmative works that fall somewhere between a revival house meeting and a TED talk—lots of “Yes, exactly!"; for those as yet unaffected, it effectively raises the temperature: After watching, you feel the flush of needing to head to a bookstore, stet.