WHEN LIFE FALLS APART
Nicole Kidman stars as a therapist whose world unravels after a brutal murder – with Hugh Grant as her husband, one of the prime suspects
Over two dramatic seasons, Big Little Lies invited viewers to gawp at the jaw-dropping wealth and decadence of the Californian elite, while also allowing us to feel thoroughly glad we’re free of the murky moral quagmire that the deeply troubled characters inhabit.
Now the show’s lead, Nicole Kidman, and producer David E. Kelley reunite to serve up another riveting drama series set against a backdrop fit for the glossy lifestyle magazines, but this time switching to the east coast, and with Hugh Grant and Donald Sutherland adding their luminous presence.
Grace Fraser (Kidman) and her husband Jonathan (Grant) appear to have it all, living an enviable existence in New York, with their home among the rarefied addresses of the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Their jet-set neighbours make millions on Wall Street, but the Frasers are an admirably modern couple very much on the side of the angels: she deals out hard-hitting truths as a couples therapist, while he’s a heroic paediatric oncologist.
Yet their perfect image is set to unravel when a mother from their son’s school is found beaten to death after a parents’ fundraiser – with Jonathan soon to be numbered among the prime suspects for the killing, especially when he suddenly goes missing.
The six-part thriller has been adapted from the best-selling novel You Should Have Known by Jean Hanff Korelitz and is directed by Susanne Bier (the acclaimed Danish film-maker behind Bird Box and TV’s The Night Manager).
For Kidman it’s another chance to display her nuanced emotional range, as a woman discovering the full measure of her inner strength when pushed to the extremes of adversity and forced to question everything she thought she knew about about her marriage.
As for Grant, he reveals his relish for the dark side that we first saw in his brilliant performance as Jeremy Thorpe in A Very English Scandal.
Again he offsets his considerable charm with hints of a hidden villainy, this time to keep us guessing about Jonathan’s true nature, while Sutherland matches the heavyweight acting stakes as Grace’s retired financier father Franklin, who will stop at nothing to protect his daughter and her family.