DAFT AND DERIVATIVE
The Independent|September 05, 2024
Nicole Kidman and Liev Schreiber lead an unhappy family in Nantucket-set 'The Perfect Couple'. What may been biting satire is paint-by-numbers Netflix pulp, writes Nick Hilton
Nick Hilton
DAFT AND DERIVATIVE

Who are the perfect couple? Could it be the domineering matriarch and her philandering husband? The lovestruck groom and his indifferent bride-to-be? The pregnant social climber and her loudmouth, destructive partner? The irony of Netflix's new six-part drama, The Perfect Couple, is that, for all the beachfront properties, the designer dresses, and wedding cakes that could feed a small army, perfection is nowhere to be found.

Greer (Nicole Kidman) and Tag (Liev Schreiber) Winbury are the toast of Nantucket. She’s a successful crime author; he’s her affable, toke-toting husband. Their middle son Benji (Billy Howle) is marrying a beautiful but truculent outsider, Amelia (Eve Hewson), which brings the whole family, and assorted hangers-on, to the island. Among that coterie is Amelia’s maid of honour Merritt (Meghann Fahy) and mysterious family friend Isabel (Isabelle Adjani). But the wedding of the year hits the rocks when a body – one of the party – washes up on the beach. And there’s nothing like a corpse for, firstly, ruining your big day, and, secondly, exposing old secrets.

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