What could go wrong at a wedding held in Nantucket, where everyone is rich and beautiful and they all know how to line dance?
The Perfect Couple
The Perfect Couple is one of those limited mystery dramas offered on Netflix that immediately grabs you by your Ivy-league jacket and champagne glass and sends you tumbling down a rabbit hole with no exit. Based on Elin Hilderbrand’s novel, the film, directed by Susanne Bier and starring Nicole Kidman, Live Schreiber, Eve Hewson, and Dakota Fanning, is a six-part miniseries that begins at the Greer mansion. Greer Winbury (Nicole Kidman) is a famous romance novelist who is hosting the rehearsal dinner and wedding of her middle son, Benji (Billy Howie) and his bride-to-be, Amelia (Eve Hewson). Benji has his best man, Shooter (Ishaan Khatter) and Amelia has her best friend, Merritt (Meghann Fahy) as the maid of honour.
The other characters in the series include Greer’s husband Tag (Live Schreiber), eldest son Thomas (Jack Reynor), and his very pregnant wife, Abby (Dakota Fanning). We also have the youngest son, Will (Sam Nivola) and a family friend Isabelle Nallet (Isabelle Adjani) who, when he isn’t totally drunk or high, is spewing cute little French quotes. The bride has also brought along her parents (Nick Searcy & Dendrie Taylor).
The scene is set, and the rehearsal party is where we begin to learn that the Greer Mansion in Nantucket is offering up more than line dances and oysters. There are secrets within secrets, and when the body of Merritt is found floating off the beach by the bride-to-be…that is when the viewer is thrown headfirst into a juicy mystery with almost the entire bridal party suspected of murder. Nantucket Police Chief Dan Carter (Michael Beach) grudgingly accepts the help from a mainland homicide detective, Nikki Henry (Donna Lynne Champlin) as they try to sift through contradictory alibis, long held secrets, and a mystery man (Thomas Flanagan) who is stalking Greer.
Conclusion
The Perfect Couple is one of the best vehicles I have seen Nicole Kidman star in. The series has everything that you’d expect in a murder mystery, but it is also fun to watch because everyone, and I mean everyone, has secrets. We feel the frustration of Chief Carter and Detective Henry as they have to deal with some of the most outrageous and unhinged behavior of all the suspects…but there is also plenty of humor involved. I highly recommend watching this series. The Perfect Couple is a cross between Knives Out and Murder on the Orient Express…and I loved it.