NETFLIX – ON DEMAND – SERIES

With its prestigious cast and idyllic setting – the small, middle-class New England island of Nantucket – The Perfect Couple has all the makings of an end-of-summer hit. All the more so since it stars a now-regular on the small screen, Nicole Kidman, whose tall figure adds a touch of glamour to the series, adapted from a novel by American Elin Hilderbrand.

For once, the Australian plays a role befitting her 57 years. Greer Winbury is a successful mystery writer who is preparing to marry off her youngest son – she has three – in the luxurious villa where she is spending the summer with her husband, Tag (Liev Schreiber). It is during the lavish rehearsal dinner that we get to know the guests, bridesmaids, and groomsmen, as well as the bride and groom-to-be, Benji (Billy Howle) and Amelia (Eve Hewson, seen in the Bad Sisters series in 2022), a young woman from a much more modest background.

Although all the guests pretend to be enjoying themselves, the evening is fraught with tension and it is clear that the union, of which Greer Winbury disapproves, is not getting off to the best start. The next morning, a few hours before the wedding, a corpse found in the water puts an end to the festivities.

Deadly secrets

The Cluedo-style investigation that ensues is less interesting than what it will reveal about the unhealthy dynamics shaking the Winbury family and the deadly secrets its members are hiding. While The Perfect Couple lacks the satirical power of its distant HBO cousin, The White Lotus (2021 and 2022), the suspicion that hangs over each character in turn brings to light the same cruelty, the same violence of human relationships, which we like to believe systematically goes hand in hand with great wealth.

The series assumes this bias with certain effectiveness, notably in its portrayal of the couple formed by Greer and Tag, a mixture of mutual admiration and resentment, blunted by 29 years of life together but from which not a seam must be let go. To get by, Tag wastes his days polishing the wood of his boats and smoking pot. Greer produces copy day and night to keep her finances afloat and exercises total tyranny over her household for fear of being exposed herself.

Kidman embodies this hyper-control, which is also often the case with actresses as they age, better than anyone else. Unsurprisingly, it is around her that the series unfolds, the actress rediscovers a kind of vigor and energy we have not seen from her for some time.

But the series also captivates with its peripheral elements, where several well-crafted secondary characters add intrigue. A mainland cop who could have walked out of Broadchurch, an enigmatic daughter-in-law portrayed by Dakota Fanning (whose talent has only grown since her return in Ripley), and Isabelle Adjani in a delightfully inconsequential yet entertaining cameo all provide a breath of fresh air. These elements help to offset the somewhat clichéd mystery and Susanne Bier’s flashy direction.

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