Sickness in Nic health getaway
DISGUSTINGLY rich people
turned up at the holiday from hell in Sky Atlantic’s The White Lotus on Monday, kicking off an excellently funny, dark satire.
At first it looked like a glossy escapist drama but the veneer soon cracked to reveal a glorious, and occasionally uncomfortable, plot about social inequality.
A great cast includes Jennifer Coolidge as a spacedout, lonely traveller, Connie Britton as an ambitious CEO and Murray Bartlett as the insidious, Colgatesmiling hotel manager.
The plot is also about the downtrodden staff. There’s a death but, as the story is told in flashback, the victim remains a mystery.
A suspense-filled tale that holds a mirror up to many awkward truths.
WELLNESS is thoroughly on trend, and if I were in the market for a spot of healing I’d absolutely want Nicole Kidman to be my health guru.
With her ironed-out, ageless face, flowing white blonde hair and bewitching “look deep into your soul” eyes, she is made for the role.
Nine Perfect Strangers, which launched on Amazon Prime Video on Friday, began with eerie opening titles, enviable Scandi-looking furniture in a secluded five-star resort and nine perfectly messed-up guests.
This is the latest tantalising thrill ride from the Big Little Lies team, based on another Liane Moriarty novel.
Grave
It takes place at a boutique wellness retreat called Tranquillum House, which – like most of these places – seems to tread a fine line between “wonderful place of healing” and “creepy cult”.
It probably depends on your view of tailored-for-you smoothies and earlymorning yoga.
Personally, I’d put up with someone taking the odd vial of blood for no apparent reason if it meant they’d make my favourite smoothie every morning and offer me a massage.
Digging your own grave and foraging for food though? No thanks.
Seasoned viewers will have known from the first moment with the churning blender that everything was going to be a little bit sinister.
We caught up with the nine guests on route to Tranquillum. Jess, played by Samara Weaving, told her boyfriend Ben, Melvin Gregg, that they needed “something dramatic” in their lives. This is TV code for something bad is going to happen.
We waited half the episode to meet the mysterious Masha, played by Kidman, a
Russian former high-powered
CEO who had a brush with death and decided to heal people – in her own slightly lunatic fashion.
In the meantime, it was time to gawk at the star-studded, wish-list cast.
Melissa Mccarthy is once-successful author Frances, all aviator shades, red lippy and inner turmoil.
Bobby Cannavale is abrasive addict Tony, while Luke Evans is shady Lars, and Michael Shannon and Asher Keddie play troubled couple Napoleon and Heather Marconi, with daughter Zoe, Grace Van Patten.
Regina Hall is nervous Carmel Schneider, who is there to build selfesteem and lose weight.
Everyone arrives angry, irritated and extremely reluctant to hand over their phones or contraband booze and chocolate. They sign waivers and blood is taken – a very clunky alert to “something dodgy”, just in case we hadn’t clocked it already.
Once gathered at Tranquillum, clues about people’s pasts were drip fed to us and clearly there’s enough emotional baggage to fill a luggage belt at Heathrow Terminal 5.
“The vibe seems a little charged,” noted one of Masha’s sidekicks – red flag number 17. No doubt this wellness journey will come at a price but for viewers, it’s the perfect escape.