Book adaptations have produced an outsized share of the entertainment we’ve enjoyed this year, from TV shows like A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, Bad Monkey, and Pachinko to such feature films as It Ends With Us and The Bikeriders. Netflix is getting another such title next week, a star-studded adaptation of Elin Hilderbrand’s New York Times-bestselling novel The Perfect Couple featuring Nicole Kidman and Liev Schreiber that also has this going for it:
Amid the more than 30 new shows and movies hitting the streamer over the next seven days — including documentaries like Apollo 13: Survival as well as Season 8 of Selling Sunset — The Perfect Couple is probably the only one I’d label as a must-watch.
To each his own, of course; but what we have here, basically, is the kind of murder mystery I’m pretty sure a Knives Out fan could sink their teeth into, with a top-tier cast that also includes super-talented younger stars like The White Lotus’ Meghann Fahy and Eve Hewson. In Susanne Bier, it’s also got a killer director whose past work has included streaming standouts Bird Box, The Night Manager, and The Undoing.
Furthermore, when you combine all of that talent with the story’s seduction, suspense, and picturesque setting — the cedar-shingled, white-trimmed New England aesthetic of Nantucket — it’s hard to see how this new Netflix release will end up as anything but a winner. The Perfect Couple, Netflix explains about the six-episode series coming on Sept. 5, “follows Amelia Sacks (Eve Hewson), a bride marrying into one of Nantucket’s wealthiest families. Greer Garrison Winbury (Nicole Kidman), the groom’s mother and a famous novelist, spares no expense on the high-society wedding.
“But when a dead body appears on the beach, everyone’s Champagne dreams quickly vanish and are replaced by suspicion. As secrets bubble up to the surface, an investigation takes hold that feels plucked from one of Greer’s books. Suddenly, everyone is a suspect.”
That body found washed up in Nantucket Harbor, by the way, is Merritt Monaco (played by Fahy), the bride’s best friend and maid of honor. If you’ve read the book, then you know that the story is told from multiple perspectives — including that of the bride-to-be, the groom’s parents, and the local police chief. The different perspectives add interesting layers to the story and reveal complicated relationships, hidden motives, and past indiscretions.
As is pointed out above: The Perfect Couple is certainly not the only new Netflix release coming next week. For a more comprehensive look at Netflix’s new release slate, including every title that’s being added on each day, our monthly Netflix guide is the perfect resource to consult. That list also includes a slew of third-party titles hitting the streamer, including The Expendables movies, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and Field of Dreams.
Here, meanwhile, is another reason to check out The Perfect Couple — the showrunner is Good Girls’ Jenna Lamia, and the executive producers include Stranger Things’ Shawn Levy. I’m not usually a fan of murder mysteries, but this one looks so hard to say no to.
