In this loose adaptation of Jack London’s novel, the peripatetic Martin Eden lives not in California as in the original but in a timeless Naples, that will be identified as pre-war when the working class and the bourgeoisie live in two separate and very distant worlds. The story begins at the harbour, also the setting for class conflict, one that is limited to the working classes as the rich discuss it without any real understanding. The working class live in the historical centre, the lively heart of the city, while Elena occupies an aristocratic villa in Posillipo. Martin moves to a neighbourhood on the outskirts which was built in La Balzana on land confiscated from organized crime in the town of Santa Maria La Fossa (province of Caserta). Martin presents his book in the octagonal hall of Naples’ Botanic Gardens. Scenes were shot in Torre Annunziata and Castel Volturno, in particular the final scene on the beach.
In this loose adaptation of Jack London’s novel, the peripatetic Martin Eden lives not in California as in the original but in a timeless Naples, that will be identified as pre-war when the working class and the bourgeoisie live in two separate and very distant worlds. The story begins at the harbour, also the setting for class conflict, one that is limited to the working classes as the rich discuss it without any real understanding. The working class live in the historical centre, the lively heart of the city, while Elena occupies an aristocratic villa in Posillipo. Martin moves to a neighbourhood on the outskirts which was built in La Balzana on land confiscated from organized crime in the town of Santa Maria La Fossa (province of Caserta). Martin presents his book in the octagonal hall of Naples’ Botanic Gardens. Scenes were shot in Torre Annunziata and Castel Volturno, in particular the final scene on the beach.
Martin Eden, a sailor, meets Elena, cultured, elegant, and bourgeois. She becomes more than a simple romantic obsession for Martin, representing the social status that he wants to gain with his writing. However, his contact with socialist circles will lead him into conflict with the bourgeois world of his beloved.
