David E. Kelley’s The Undoing. Starring Hugh Ungrant and Nicole Unkidman.
The Big Little Lies team of Kidman and Kelley might have outdone themselves with this new thriller
THE COMBINATION OF STAR/PRODUCER Nicole Kidman and writer/ showrunner David E Kelley has so far given us two spectacularly riveting seasons of Big Little Lies. Now they’ve collaborated again on another HBO limited series which is, if anything, an even more thrilling prospect.
Based on the bestselling 2014 novel You Should Have Known, by Jean Hanff Korelitz, The Undoing stars Kidman as Grace Fraser, a successful therapist about to publish her first book; Hugh Grant, in his darkest role for years, plays her husband Jonathan, a highly respected doctor. Their son (Noah Jupe) attends an elite New York private school. When news of a high-profile violent death hits the media, Jonathan abruptly disappears, leaving Grace to deal with the fallout, while a series of shocking revelations about her husband’s hidden world come tumbling out.
The hectic swirl of the narrative is handled by Danish film director Susanne Bier, whose last TV project was The Night Manager. Bier directs all episodes, following the pattern established on Kidman and Kelley’s Big Little Lies when they brought in auteurs Jean-marc Vallee (Dallas Buyers Club) and Andrea Arnold (American Honey) to make series one and two respectively.
With its attention-grabbing exploration of an ultra-privileged family undone by secrets and lies, executed by the extraordinary creative team put together by Kidman and Kelley, The Undoing should reach the upper echelons of Peak TV.