You’d have to have been living under a rock to have missed it: Nicole Kidman’s latest outing as a fierce matriarch embroiled in a murder mystery in The Perfect Couple, Netflix’s new, massively trending miniseries.
With a cast absolutely packed-full of stars, including Dakota Fanning, Isabelle Adjani and Liev Schreiber, a fantastically outrageous and truly unlikely plot (which involves a wealthy family’s complicated relationships, and a murder) and the suitably exquisite setting of Nantucket, it’s no real surprise that over the weekend the show has become an instant hit.
For those just tuning in now, here’s everything to bring you up to speed about one of this year’s biggest shows.
What do we know about the plot?
Based on Elin Hilderbrand’s 2018 novel of the same name, The Perfect Couple is about a wealthy family’s involvement in the death of a guest ahead of a lavish wedding.
Greer Garrison Winbury (Kidman) is a novelist who seems to have it all: fame, riches and a picture-book family – not least her hot husband, Tag Winbury (Liev Schreiber). And one of her sons is about to get married to the beautiful Amelia Sacks (Eve Hewson). What could go wrong?
Well, like all the juiciest dramas, everyone seems to be harbouring a secret or two: from affairs, to money problems, to suicide attempts, to more affairs. Police start to investigate a death that happens on the property in the early morning hours after the wedding rehearsal dinner – could it have been a murder, rather than an accident? – and the fraught relations between the family members only intensify.
Who stars in The Perfect Couple?
The cast is star studded: as well as Kidman, Schreiber and Fanning, Irish actor Hewson, who starred in Bad Sisters and is the daughter of U2 frontman Bono, plays bride-to-be Amelia. She’s joined by British actor Billy Howle, who is best-known for The Seagull and Outlaw King, The White Lotus’ Meghann Fahy, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’s Donna Lynne Champlin, MidSommar’s Jack Reynor and Ishaan Khatter.
Is there a trailer?
Yes, we’ve popped it at the top of the page. The two-minute clip sets the scene for the tantalising six-parter. “They’re rich,” says someone speaking off-camera. “Kill-someone-and-get-away-with-it-rich.” Then we see the family drinking beers, grimacing and laying by the pool looking mildly distressed as the police started to gather evidence about the awful “accident”.
“It’s such a shock and we’re all very upset,” says Kidman’s Greer, in a flat, emotionless voice, while applying lip-salve.
With the teaser trailer racking up three million views, and the full-length trailer over one million views, it’s really no surprise that the series has been making waves online since its September 5 release: one fan summed up the excitement succinctly: “Knives Out meets Big Little Lies meets White Lotus. I'm in.”
Who has made the show?
The show has been developed by actor-writer Jenna Lamia, who has featured in episodes of Law and Order, NYPD Blue and Dirty John and has written episodes of 90210, Good Girls and Resident Alien.
Asked by Netflix’s official content site, Tudum, about her aspirations for the series, Lamia said she hoped audiences would watch the show with “bated breath and needing to keep going, because they can’t stand that they’re not sure who did it yet. But I hope they’ll also laugh!”
The Perfect Couple has been directed by Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier, who directed HBO’s The Undoing (which also starred Kidman) and Showtime’s The First Lady.
“Everything I’ve done, I’ve always been very meticulous about the world being correct, but also the characters being specific because what never works is if it becomes generic,” Bier told Tudum. “You need to understand the world.”
What have the critics said?
The show has been picking up massively varying reviews. The Standard, for example, gave it just two-stars, describing it as a “glossy whodunnit” that’s “more style than substance”.
Others have disagreed, with critics describing The Perfect Couple as “ludicrously good”, “the drama of the season” and “schmaltzy, silly and very soapy” but with a “compelling plotting”, that “will have you hooked”.
