Susanne Bier, who directed that other glossy Nicole Kidman starrer, The Undoing, is back with another sleek offering featuring Kidman once more as a rich woman of privilege in peril. Here Kidman plays Greer Garrison Winbury, an insanely successful writer — thankfully not a gallery owner! She writes mysteries featuring Dash and Dolly, with Dash being modelled on her generationally rich husband, Tag (Liev Schreiber). The Winbury family are in Nantucket, hosting the wedding of their second son, Benji (Billy Howle) to girl next door, Amelia (Eve Hewson).
We are introduced in rapid succession to the players at the party. There is Benji’s older brother, Thomas (Jack Reynor) and his heavily pregnant wife, Abby (Dakota Fanning), Will (Sam Nivola), the youngest Winbury, Benji’s best friend, Shooter (Ishaan Khatter), Amelia’s best friend and maid of honour, good time girl Merrit, (Meghann Fahy) and friend of the family, Isabel (Isabelle Adjani).
The Perfect Couple (English)
Below stairs, there is the scarily efficient and snobbish housekeeper, Gosia (Irina Dubova), the wedding planner Roger Pelton (Tim Bagley) and Greer’s editor, Enid (Adina Porter). When a body is found on the beach on the morning after the rehearsal dinner, it is time for the plods including chief Dan Carter (Michael Beach), Deputy Carl (Nick Searcy) and detective Nikki (Donna Lynne Champlin) to swing into action.
A still from Netflix’s ‘The Perfect Couple’ | Photo Credit: Netflix
It is also time for many rocks to be turned to reveal the awful creepy crawlies underneath the Winburys’ polished exterior. Chloe (Mia Isaac), Chief Carter’s daughter, seems to have a connection with the crime as she hides a bloody shirt, while Thomas Flanagan as Broderick Graham fills the Stranger slot.
Tag realises that no matter how much money they donate to the police for smart uniforms and flash cars, dead bodies cannot be brushed under the carpet. All the characters are uniformly dreadful, including down-to-earth Amelia, who worked at a zoo when she met Benji and they fell in love. Tag’s supposed attractiveness is not very visible as all he seems to do is smoke up and play golf while not singing pop anthems from the Jurassic Age.
Gosia looks down her nose on Amelia’s parents, Karen (Dendrie Taylor) and Bruce (Michael McGrady) for gifting store-brought fruit even after rescheduling the wedding to accommodate Karen’s “dying”, and dismisses a character for making their bed like “a poor person.” The death also finds chinks in the “perfect couple” image the Winburys are trying to project.
The mystery is not very clever and also granted the general awfulness of all the characters, you do not really care whodunit. Kidman, is regal as Greer (she can do these roles in her sleep by now), while all the rest do what is asked of them, breathing whatever life they can into their poorly written characters. The extreme close-ups do not reveal anything about the characters apart from their sometimes flawless skin.
The clothes are divine, especially Kidman’s, with lovely wide-legged trousers, a brilliant azure blouse bringing out the blue of her unfathomable eyes, and all those complicated ties and sashes.
A still from Netflix’s ‘The Perfect Couple’ | Photo Credit: Netflix
The one person who seems to have a great time is Fanning as Abby, bringing a casual cruelty and indifference to everything around her except herself. Saying Shooter (what is with that name?) is from the Middle East, and replying “exactly” when Amelia says he is from India, is one of her many throwaway gems. Champlin also has fun with her character of a detective seemingly dazzled by all wealth, while keeping her eyes peeled for the many ugly faults.
Though cliché ridden with breathless twists and turns that do not make much sense, The Perfect Couple based on Elin Hilderbrand’s eponymous bestseller, is addictive from that Hindi movie-style dance sequence in the opening credits to the final reveal. It could have been cleverer, sharper and much more. The lack of ambition gravely hurts this handsomely produced show and the statuesque Ms Kidman should seriously consider putting her substantial star-power into worthier projects, despite what she did with her accent in this one.
The Perfect Couple is currently streaming on Netflix
Published - September 08, 2024 01:58 pm IST
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