Aahana Swrup
Netflix’s Italian show, ‘Deceitful Love,’ directed by Pappi Corsicato, is a romance drama that takes on the controversial dynamics of a relationship between an older woman and a younger man. The narrative follows a 60-year-old wealthy hotel owner, Gabriella, whose paths cross with the dreamy younger man, Elia, seemingly on accident. As a result, the two find themselves hurled into a whirlwind romance that doesn’t come without its complications. Given Elia’s youth and Gabriella’s money, the latter’s family, including her oldest son, Stefano, instantly draws up conclusions about the man’s nefarious intentions. Even though Gabriella wants to believe in her new relationship, the secrets from her partner’s past inevitably come back to haunt the couple, raising questions about the reality of their connection.
The show tackles the theme of an age gap and how the unexpected gender-based optics of certain relationships affect people’s prejudices from the outside. Consequently, as the narrative delves into the topic through a cultural lens unique to its setting, its basis in reality remains a point of interest.
Deceitful Love: An Italian Remake of Gold Digger
‘Deceitful Love,’ also known as ‘Inganno,’ has no tangible connections to a real-life tale. Instead, it is a work of fiction based on the 2019 BBC One drama show, ‘Gold Digger.’ The original work was created by writer/director Marnie Dickens, who similarly based the story as a fictionalized narrative. Yet, she remained intentional in her work to present an in-depth and nuanced depiction of a romance between an older woman and a younger man. Dickens wanted to highlight the discrepancy between culture’s acceptance of age gaps depending on the conventional or unconventional gender roles within the dynamic.
In a conversation with BBC, Dickens highlighted the commonality of a romantic relationship between an older man and a younger woman in both fiction and real life. Comparatively, she pointed out the double standard of people’s perception of such a relationship if the gender dynamics are flipped. Thus, in ‘Gold Digger,’ she wanted to explore the same phenomenon through the narrative and the characters who constantly scrutinize the central relationship.
Dickens shared, “By getting under the skin of each character, understanding why they either reject or accept the romance, hopefully, the audience will feel they’ve been shown multiple viewpoints and then reach their own conclusion.” Similarly, Deceitful Love brings the same conversation to the table under a different cultural context. Therefore, while it bases most of its characters on their counterparts in ‘Gold Digger,’ it uniquely tinkers with and refines their characteristics. Thus, utilizing another fictitious show for inspiration, ‘Deceitful Love’ ultimately remains detached from any real-life events.
Deceitful Love Explores the Concept of Romance Scams
Although ‘Deceitful Love’ focuses on the central age-gap romance, it also utilizes the same premise to explore the idea of romance scams. In real life, romance scams remain a common cybercrime tactic wherein criminals prey upon the emotions of their victims to financially exploit them. Usually, such a scam involves building an emotional relationship before manipulating it into monetary benefits. According to reports, romance scams are a highly relevant real-life issue, as they contributed to around 1.14 billion dollars of loss in America in 2023.
However, despite the commonality of the scam, people often incorrectly pigeonhole a certain demographic to the likelihood of falling victim to this crime. More often than not, middle-aged, uncommitted women become this assumed demographic. Becky Holmes, a popular online personality who trolls scammers, highlighted the same in her opinion piece in The Guardian, where she pointed out that anyone, regardless of their identity, can and does fall victim to a romance scam. Therefore, as ‘Deceitful Love’ offers more nuance to Gabriella and Elia’s relationship, painting it in shades of gray, the show allows scope for deeper socially-driven commentary on the topic.
Naturally, the same also leads to a more dramatic and intense romance unfolding between the pair, bringing up conversations about the unpredictability and vulnerability of love. Through a few other characters and their interpersonal relationships, the show also touches upon themes of sexuality and infidelity through a compassionate and open-minded lens. This allows the story to offer fresh and compelling explorations of subjects that may otherwise be considered taboo. In that way, the show mines a certain aspect of reality. Nonetheless, since no actual real-life inspiration has been equipped for the story or the characters, ‘Deceitful Love’ retains fictional origins.
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