Emanuela Fanelli’s “Peccato” to shine on HBO Max
TORONTO – Although Netflix is on the verge of acquiring Warner Brothers for an all-cash offer of circa $83b, the deal is not yet sealed. And unless Netflix has other plans for its content, HBO Max will continue streaming its content in Italy. It went live in the Belpaese for the first time this week. Italian audiences will be excited for a few reasons, namely because HBO’s business model gives full creative freedom to its artists, bigger budgets and serialized storytelling for adult audiences.
Its focus on quality over quantity and lack of censorship has made the platform fertile ground for some of American television’s greatest shows like The Sopranos, Game of Thrones, The Wire, Oz, Succession, Rome, The Young Pope and Curb Your Enthusiasm, to name a few. Long before today’s big streamers emerged, HBO was the first subscription-based cable network, offering innovative and commercial free viewing.
And now HBO Max, which is the streaming arm of HBO, has just announced one of its several Italian originals, Peccato, starring the Roman born comedienne Emanuela Fanelli. The actress and now star talent went from theatre to television to film all within a 10-year stretch starting in 2015.
Her breakthrough and rise to prominence came while co-hosting the makeshift talk show Una pezza di Lundini in 2020-21.
The show poked fun at Italian television formats through parody and pop culture callbacks. The fake talk show’s premise was that it filled holes in the Rai 2 schedule during technical issues or interruptions. Fanelli’s writing and comedic talent shone through, inevitably attracting bigger roles.
But with HBO Max’s Peccato, Fanelli returns to the mockery style humour of Una pezza di Lundini. In Peccato, Fanelli plays herself in the near future.
It’s a mockumentary comedy series that finds Fanelli in the year 2049 (in her 60s), living a hermetic life in a small village. The black comedy series will follow the actress’ career after a mysterious scandal forces her into private life.
The series begins at the end and rewinds Fanelli’s life to explore the events of her downfall and isolation. Joining Emanuela Fanelli is a stellar cast of notables including Stefano Accorsi, Alessandro Borghi, Paola Cortellesi and Sandra Ferilli. Valerio Vestoso, who wrote nearly 70 episodes of Una pezza di Lundini, is directing the series.
The show will place Fanelli in her comedic sweet spot, blending real archival footage of her career with fictional interviews and created material. While not a direct comparable, the godfather of mockumentaries, This Is Spinal Tap (1984), might be a similar comedic reference for what to expect from Peccato. A surreal and satirical look at an artist’s career trajectory, and the inevitable downturn of their private life.
Image of Emanuela Fanelli courtesy of HBO Max; image of Emanuela Fanelli and Valerio Lundini courtesy of Rai 2
Massimo Volpe is a filmmaker and freelance writer from Toronto: he writes reviews of Italian films/content on Netflix
