A FALL WITH GRACE
Surrounded by beauty, Nicole Kidman’s life crumbles amid ugly allegations in ‘ The Undoing’
Nicole Kidman collapses in spectacular fashion in the new HBO limited series “The Undoing.”
Her Grace Fraser collapses emotionally, she collapses financially, and at one point she collapses in Central Park when she is overwhelmed by events in her life — but even when Kidman literally takes the fall, she does so with a grace befitting her character’s name, wearing a stylishly coordinated ensemble, her luxurious red curls flowing about as if she’s a princess from another time, or maybe a star in a Tori Amos video from the early 2000s.
Even when “The Undoing” stretches credibility to the near breaking point and drips with lurid melodrama, it’s one visually arresting series, with beautifully framed shots ( often showcasing the life of One Percenters in Manhattan), and Kidman and Hugh Grant proving they’ve still got that movie star magic we first saw in each of them some three decades ago.
This series might as well have been called “Undoing the Big Little Lies that Started Little Fires Everywhere,” as it follows the formula of adapting a recently penned and popular page- turning murder mystery for a premium cable limited series set mostly in wealthy enclaves and starring A- list actors playing characters who are frantically juggling very complicated lives when things are turned upside down by crimes and misdemeanors — sometimes even MURDER, that’s right I said MURDER.
Based on the novel “You Should Have Known” by Jean Hanff Korelitz, written by the prolific and skilled veteran David E. Kelley ( whose credits include “Big Little Lies”) and directed by the gifted Susanne Bier ( the terrific miniseries “The Night Manager,” the Netflix horror smash “Bird Box”), “The Undoing” is set in a Manhattan community where the parents live in seven- figure duplexes, send their children to obscenely expensive private schools, listen only to classical music and hold a fundraiser high atop the glass tower that is One State Street Plaza.
Kidman’s Grace is a pricey therapist, and her husband, Jonathan, ( Hugh Grant) is a highly regarded oncologist who has a dry biscuit of a British quip for every occasion but also has a wonderful bedside manner with his child patients. Grace and Jonathan’s son Henry ( Noah Jupe, the talented, young actor from “A Quiet Place” and “Ford v. Ferrari”) has an adorable mop of curly hair, plays the violin and loves spending time with his parents. He’s the perfect kid! Or is he ...
When the mother of one of Henry’s classmates is found brutally bludgeoned to death in her art studio, the lives of Grace, Jonathan and Henry quickly unravel.
In episode after episode, Grace learns shocking truths about Jonathan and finds her life spinning out of control as the media swarms in, her husband disappears, a prime suspect is identified, and she’s continually pestered by the lead detective ( Edgar Ramirez) who is either telling her things she didn’t know about her life or asking disturbing questions making it seem like SHE could be involved in this bloody mess.
“The Undoing” is bathed in rich, autumnal colors as we quickly get to the trial portion of the proceedings, which of course feature all sorts of goings- on you’d never see in real life. But who cares, as we’re firmly in guilty- pleasure courtroom thriller territory by now!
Matilda de Angelis makes a splash as Elena, a younger mother at the school who takes an odd and sudden liking to Grace, and seems to delight in making her uncomfortable, as when she reintroduces herself in the locker room of a health club and stands fully naked in front of Grace, casually running a finger along her torso. Is she trying to seduce Grace? Is she crazy? What’s her deal? Oh, the things we’ll find out, sometimes in flashback.
I also got a kick out of Donald Sutherland’s performance as Grace’s stern and powerful father, Franklin, who always sounds as if he’s onstage doing Shakespeare, even when spouting ridiculous lines, e. g., at the aforementioned fundraiser when he says, “I bid on the silent auction, I’m apt to win one of Henry Ford’s original dipsticks.” That’s also how Franklin has long regarded his son- in- law Jonathan — as an original dipstick — but is Jonathan the one who committed the murder? You’ll find out over the course of six quick episodes filled with empty yet satisfying entertainment calories.