Fact check: Is Deceitful Love based on true story? Explained

Deceitful Love is an Italian adaptation of the 2019 British miniseries Gold Digger, which was released on Netflix on 9 October, 2024. The series stars Monica Guerritore and Giacomo Gianniotti and is directed by Pappi Corscato, who's also known for his work on The Temptation.

Neither Deceitful Love nor Gold Digger, are not based on real events. When speaking about the British miniseries to BBC in a November 2019 interview, the series creator Marnie Dickens didn't allude to any real-world inspiration for the series as she put it:

"Anyway, a couple of years later, the idea of Gold Digger came to me. I had known for a long time I wanted to write a family drama, but the matriarch falling for a much younger man was the new notion, and one that finally made a loose idea seem solid. I wrote the pitch very fast and got it out to my favoured producers at the time.

Therefore, neither Gold Digger, nor its Italian adaptation Deceitful Love, is based on true events.

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Deceitful Love shows an affair between an older woman and younger man

In keeping with the premise of BBC's Gold Digger, Deceitful Love stars Monica Guerritore as Gabriella, a hotel owner who recently had her 60th birthday, and has a fraught relationship with her children. While celebrating her birthday on Italy's Amalfi Coast, she comes across a young man in his 30s, whom she develops a crush on.

The man, Elia, played by Giacomo Gianniotti, reciprocates her feelings, and the two become a couple. However, the people around Gabriella, including her ex-husband and children, are immediately suspicious of Elia's true motives.

Very little is known about his past, and it's unclear whether he's truly pursuing Gabriella out of love or because of the sizeable wealth to her name. In other words, Elia could be a gold digger.

As Gabriella's family begins to investigate Elia and find out what he's really up to, the seeds are sown for a tense family situation as Gabriella struggles with the implications of what her family might believe about her new lover.

Speaking to BBC in November about the Gold Digger miniseries, Marnie said about her intentions when telling the story:

"One of the main things I'd long wanted to explore in a family drama was the idea of perspectives. Each of us having our own version of events, each of us affected in our own way by the past, each of us remote from the other.

"With all this in mind, I set out to structure the series into POV's. One half of each episode would always be the lead character, Julia's, the other half would be the people around her, be it her eldest son in episode one or her only daughter in episode two."

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Deceitful Love cast and characters

The main cast of Netflix's Deceitful Love is as follows:

• Monica Guerritore as Gabriella, a 60 year old hotel owner who begins an affair with a younger man.
• Giacomo Gianniotti as Elia, a younger man who begins an affair with Gabriella.
• Emanuel Caserio as Stefano, who is Gabriella's son.
• Denise Capezza as Marina, an ex-girlfriend of Elia.
• Dharma Mangia Woods as Guila, who is Gabriella's daughter.
• Francesco Del Gaudio as Nico, who is another of Gabriella's sons.
• Geppy Gleijeses as Mario, the ex-husband of Gabriella.

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Deceitful Love is currently streaming on Netflix.