The Perfect Couple Review: Nicole Kidman is witty and Ishaan is fluid in a gripping novel | Web series

(Also read – Before Babygirl, watch Birth: another Nicole Kidman film that debuted at the Venice Film Festival)

Deja vu?

The similarities to the aforementioned shows are not far-fetched, whether in tone or narrative. The White Lotus Season 2The murder takes place when Meghan Fahy is swimming near a high-profile, isolated island. Much like The Big little liesNicole Greer’s (Nicole Kidman) marriage is a complicated one, as she and her husband Tag (Liev Schreiber) can’t seem to separate themselves despite their turbulent relationship. Much like Celeste (Big Little Lies), Greer is too obsessed with people’s perceptions of her to openly discuss the problems she faces in her marriage.

To make matters worse, Greer is a public figure: she’s a celebrated crime writer, famous for borrowing liberally from her life. She even has a successful franchise under her belt, inspired by the adventures of her own marriage. As the lines between the page and real life blur, Greer needs to ensure that the Winsburys form the perfect family, the perfect couple, straight out of the ideal American dream. To her dismay, her son Benji falls in love with Amelia (Eve Hewson), a modest zoologist, and decides to marry her despite his mother’s reservations. The families, best man and maid of honor, reunite at their Nantucket vacation home, before a murder takes its toll.

The facade breaks

As the investigation unfolds, family secrets come to light: the Winburys are not the role models they are often described as. When questioned by the police, their staff reveal the family’s underlying dynamics, as if they were the house’s crime writers rather than its employer. Greer merely observes—who wears what, who reacts to whom, and how—like a true chronicler. But how much does she control the narrative? Does she have any control over her own narrative, let alone anyone else’s? The only narrative she tries to control is her public relations narrative: she hires high-end professionals to cover up her family’s dark past. There may have been a murder in the morning, but she makes sure the whole family is dressed up for a family portrait for the press in the afternoon.

Grotia, the maid, has the best lines in the show. She’s symptomatic of the Winsburys’ disdain for the less privileged – she confesses that she doesn’t trust family friends who wash their own dishes or make their own beds the way the poor do. These lines seem lifted from a racier version of The White Lotus, but unlike that show, The Perfect Couple uses these tropes deceptively to confuse the motive behind murder. Is it always money? Do the rich only kill so they can get rich? Or is there something else behind their motive? Something as green as the money they hold on to so dearly. The perennial arrogance of the rich makes them seem like easy suspects – they’re cruel, exploitative, and self-centered – but does that make them all murderers?

These are questions one is faced with after watching the series, because over the course of it, neither the series nor the viewers want to waste a minute thinking. The pace is relentless and the twists are frequent. There is barely room to breathe, but one does not complain. Nicole Kidman, known as the queen of nervous breakdowns on the big screen, has only one scene in which she lets herself be overcome with tears. Her default mode is defensiveness: watch when she cosmetically pats her lips with balm while accepting a comforting text on the phone. Or when she messily but desperately fastens her bow tie as if she were tightly tying up the loose end of her next great detective novel. She is sharp even in moments of vulnerability, as if unable to shed light on that chink in her armor.

Ishaan Khatter makes his debut as Shooter Dival, the best man at Greer’s son’s wedding. He’s a smooth talker, a charming, muscular man who rocks the house with his entrance into the Winsbury family. Ishaan keeps the mystery of his character alive with his understated mannerisms, but one wishes his dynamic with Nicole Kidman’s character was explored more. It’s an interesting mix of actors, but it’s also the casting that gives away the killer. The culprit hides in plain sight, but the motive doesn’t. The motive, which isn’t even explained at the end, is what gives The Perfect Couple its jagged edges.