by Eric Blume
There are few things in life more exquisite than watching Nicole Kidman unravel. And she does so with her usual panache in the new HBO miniseries The Undoing, from director Susanne Bier.
HBO is releasing the six episodes week by week, so we're currently only two episodes in, but what we have on our hands with The Undoing is a genuine potboiler! The program slowly lays out its icy upper east side NYC terrain with careful deliberation, only to end the initial episode with a fun corker that sets Nicole into a fiery actressy spiral...
Try to come to The Undoing with an little awarness of the plot. Suffice it to say it's about a wealthy couple (Kidman and Hugh Grant) with a young son (Honey Boy's amazing Noah Jupe) at a private academy in the city. Some bad stuff happens. Nicole's hair is red and cascading. That's all one needs to know.
Bier's Danish film In a Better World won the Best Foreign Film Oscar in 2010, and she won an Emmy for directing the superlative miniseries The Night Manager with Tom Hiddleston and Olivia Colman. Bier's specialty is not with subtle characterization, but she's ace at creating paranoiac tension. In both The Night Manager and here, she has a superb instinct for how to get you to put your hand in her vise so she can slowly tighten the screws.
The first half hour of episode one takes a while to find its footing, and its evocation of upper east side elite feels just a little too too, but once the plot starts unraveling, Bier pushes scene after scene with force, and the whole thing takes on a feverish weirdness. There's a scene in episode two where Kidman is stumbling around in a viciously green coat that recalls Jeanne Moreau stalking through Elevator to the Gallows in its atmospheric strangeness.
Hugh Grant and Tom Hanks should get drinks together, because they are both doing far more interesting work than they were back when they were "acclaimed" in the 1990s. Here, Grant displays his freakishly effortless ability to play the comedy wherever it might be available, but he's also appropriately off in a way that feels true to the character and helps generate necessary doubt and mystery.
And then, of course, there's Nicole. It remains to be seen if this is going to be a major or minor role in the Kidman canon, but she turns herself over to Bier with complete trust (always one of her greatest attributes as an actor), and Bier rewards her with moments both glamorous and messy. Kidman's physical beauty here is overwhelming, and she's able to bring the viewer right into her own mind and thoughts without ever telegraphing. She's not getting the chance to go toe-to-toe with other actors yet, as her role requires her to feel isolated and alone, but she's got a camera to work with, and Kidman's connection to that has always served her well.
Who else is watching The Undoing? Thoughts in the comments section, as always...