We’re telling you now: Netflix‘s The Excellent Couple is completely addictive viewing.
Starring Nicole Kidman, Dangerous Sisters star Eve Hewson, Dakota Fanning and The Daring Sort‘s Meghann Fahy, this star-studded sequence is customized from Elin Hilderbrand’s novel, which revolves across the doomed marriage ceremony of newcomer to the rich Winbury household, Amelia Sacks (Hewson). The matriarch of the household Greer (Kidman) appears to disapprove of Amelia, however all is thrown up within the air when a member of the marriage get together dies the evening earlier than the marriage – everybody, wealthy or poor, turns into a suspect.
However what The Excellent Couple actually is at its core is six scrumptious episodes of wealthy folks behaving completely atrociously – with genius comedic timing – and us as an viewers delighting in it and concurrently keenly awaiting their downfall.
A number of affairs and abuses of energy are revealed all through, with NDAs shortly served to guard members of the Winbury household. Cash is thrown (or not less than threatened to be thrown) at unethical transgressions as a substitute of precise acceptance of dangerous behaviour. Two of the Winbury brothers even find yourself wrestling over what’s undoubtedly an unspeakably costly marriage ceremony cake. Financial value means nothing, and the household clearly believes themselves to be above not simply the legislation, however primary morals. That is demonstrated time and again when a number of family members come underneath suspicion of homicide.
Liev Schreiber’s character Tag, particularly, clearly appears to consider that he can outrun any wrongdoing as a consequence of his wealth. His oldest son, Thomas, is your basic misogynistic, aggressive finance bro who acts like a spoiled little one. The ladies are crafted barely in another way, quieter however no much less lethal of their scoundrel behaviour. Nicole Kidman simmers because the household’s matriarch Greer – when she’s not in PR injury management mode to guard the household’s ailing fame, she is subtly undermining relative commoner Amelia with the sweetest of smiles. Dakota Fanning’s Abby – Thomas’ pregnant spouse – and her easy supply of slut shaming, salacious in-family sh*t stirring and all-around snobbery is pure genius. We will not stand her, however we would in all probability nonetheless need her to love us if we met her.
The brand new Netflix TV sequence, similar to Succession, The White Lotus – even reveals like The Undoing and Huge Little Lies, each additionally starring Nicole Kidman, in addition to Determined Housewives and Gossip Lady for these with an early Noughties fixation – revolves round significantly unlikeable wealthy folks doing horrible issues, being horrible folks, and getting away with it. For a sure stretch of time, anyway. Emerald Fennell’s divisive Saltburn additionally scratched this itch, significantly with Rosamund Pike’s Girl Elspeth Catton delighting and repulsing audiences in equal measure together with her common aversion to “ugliness” and her sweetly-delivered offensive feedback, together with calling a pal’s suicide “consideration looking for”.
“When folks have wealth and privilege, it will probably generally be more durable to evolve behaviour to social requirements, as a result of there may be little value for not doing so,” mindset psychologist Dr Rebekah Wanic explains.
