‘Devotion, A Story Of Love And Desire’: New Steamy Netflix Series

Netflix has released a new Italian series, Devotion, A Story of Love and Desire (Fideltà), starring Michele Riondino (from Young Montalbano) and Lucrezia Guidone, that explores marriage and suspicions of infidelity. It is another Netflix series about jealousy and extramarital desire. The following review may contain some spoilers.

Devotion is adapted from Marco Missiroli’s bestselling 2019 novel Fedeltà, and follows married couple Carlo and Margharita, who live in Milan. Carlo (played by Michele Riondino) is a university college professor and author, who becomes besotted by one of his students, Sofia (played by Caroline Sala), an aspiring author in his creative writing class. Margharita (played by Lucrezia Guidone) is an estate agent, wishing she had pursued her dream of becoming an interior designer. After Carlo is seen comforting Sofia in the university’s bathroom, Margharita becomes suspicious.

Devotion, A Story of Love and Desire is a slow-burning six-part Italian drama about fidelity and marriage, reminiscent of such series as The Affair or Scenes From A Marriage. What sets this tale apart from others is the series’ suggestion that suspicions of infidelity can set a happily married couple apart.

Stories of infidelity in a couple usually arises from an unhappy relationship. It is not so with Carlo and Margharita. As the six-part series begins, the couple appear to be in a blissful and loving relationship. They still desire each other sexually, as the raunchy opening sequence of the first episode attests, and they are even considering buying an apartment together they cannot afford. To their group of friends, they appear to be the perfect couple. As Margharita tells one of her friends, they have such a close relationship that she is the only one Carlo allows to read the first draft of his novels. The series suggests the confidence Carlo and Margharita have in the strength of their relationship. After five years together, they are still very much in love.

This is until student Sofia enters the picture. She is one of Carlo’s students, which he meets for private tutorials. There is clear chemistry between Sofia and Carlo. During class, as Carlo assigns his students a writing exercise, Sofia storms out overwhelmed. Carlo follows her to the bathroom where he comforts her. They are seen by another student. Carlo tells his wife about the incident the next day after being reprimanded by the university’s dean. He assures Margharita nothing happened between him and his student. But when Carlo receives a phone call from Sofia late at night, Margharita grows even more suspicious.

These suspicions will gradually pull the couple apart, as Margharita also starts to look elsewhere, specifically her handsome new physical therapist. For Margharita to grow this suspicious also reveals that there are cracks in Carlo and Margharita’s seemingly blissful relationship. Margharita’s chronic leg pain will turn out to be a symptom of what was wrong in their relationship, a signifier of the silent tension or strain between the couple.

Devotion presents a rather simple storyline, while at the same time suggesting the complexity of relationships. While the original Italian title of the series, which is the same as the novel, makes it clear this is a story around the theme of fidelity, the English version of the title, is rather perplexing, at first. It reveals another aspect of the story, pertaining specifically to Margharita’s character. Beneath the surface, Carlo and Margharita’s relationship isn’t as perfect as it seems. As she tells her husband, their relationship has consisted of her devoting herself to Carlo. Reproaching him for his supposed infidelity, she reveals that she has only been thinking about him and his needs in the past five years of their relationship, forgetting about herself, and her own dreams of becoming an interior designer. The series hints that it is this devotion of hers that is causing her leg pain, and also holding her back.

Devotion: A Story of Love and Desire is an engrossing series that tells a story that is a little more complex than first meets the eye. The series, which features great performances from its leading cast, was written by Elisa Amoruso, Laura Colella and Alessandro Fabbri, with Stefano Cipani and Andrea Molaioli directing.