The pacing is also glacial. Long, wordless shots of characters staring at the sea substitute for actual emotional development. By episode four, the repetitive cycle of “meet, argue, gaze longingly, almost kiss, pull away” becomes exhausting.
At first glance, Devotion promises a lush, sun-drenched escape into taboo romance. The Italian drama, set against the aristocratic glamour of Liguria, wants to be a sophisticated exploration of adult desire. Instead, it often plays like a handsomely shot soap opera that mistakes brooding silences for depth and infidelity for liberation. devotion, a story of love and desire
The series is visually intoxicating. Every frame drips with Mediterranean heat—crisp linen, antique villas, the gleam of the sea at sunset. The chemistry between Riondino and Giovinazzo is palpable in stolen glances and trembling hands. When the show allows itself quiet moments (a shared cigarette on a terrace, a hesitant touch in a dark room), it genuinely captures the ache of midlife longing. The pacing is also glacial
★★½ (2.5/5) Watch if you liked: Call Me By Your Name ’s aesthetic, but with less nuance; The Affair ’s premise, but with less grit. At first glance, Devotion promises a lush, sun-drenched
If you enjoy Italian scenery as a character and don’t mind minimal plot, you’ll find moments to savor. But if you’re looking for genuine insight into love or desire, this story remains curiously, fatally, distant.
Carlo (Michele Riondino), a successful but emotionally stunted yacht builder, is trapped in a sexless, transactional marriage with the elegant but icy Sofia. Enter Margherita (a compelling Aurora Giovinazzo), a young, free-spirited photographer who sees Carlo not as a wealthy patron, but as a broken man. What follows is a collision of worlds: obligation versus impulse, security versus chaos.