The Perfect Couple

What’s it about?

The Perfect Couple is a suspenseful drama that follows complex relationships and secrets within a seemingly ideal family as they prepare for a wedding. When a murder disrupts the festivities, long-buried truths and hidden tensions come to light, turning everyone into a suspect. The series explores themes of love, betrayal, and the dark side of perfection.

The facts 

• Directed by Susanne Bier (The Night Manager)
• Developed by Jenna Lamia
• Stars Nicole Kidman (Big Little Lies, A Family Affair), Liev Schreiber (X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Spotlight), Dakota Fanning (Watchers)
• English language 
• Runtime: There are six episodes that are approximately 63 minutes each
• The series is an adaptation of the novel The Perfect Couple by Elin Hilderbrand

Why did it get this rating? 

This series was self-rated by Netflix. You can find out more about self-rating by streaming providers here.

Drug use

A character in the series steals various prescription drugs from different people and unknown sources, using them to create a game called "Prescription Roulette." He mixes the pills together and offers them to others. In one scene, a character is seen swallowing a pill on the spot. Later, another character crushes a pill and secretly slips it into someone’s drink.

Meanwhile, another character occasionally smokes a joint and offers it to others, though this behaviour serves more to define their personality than to drive the plot.

While the series doesn’t heavily focus on the consequences of drug use, it ultimately links drug misuse to a murder. However, the depiction of casual drug use throughout, without showing direct consequences, could make it difficult for younger viewers to understand the serious risks associated with illegal drug abuse.

Violence 

The series centres around a murder mystery involving the death of a female character, with the details slowly unravelling as the story progresses. Viewers are gradually introduced to her identity and the circumstances surrounding her death, with the full truth only revealed at the very end. Flashbacks are laced with the sound of screaming and, at times, the ominous sounds of water.

In the climactic death scene, a character forces the victim’s head underwater after secretly slipping a crushed prescription drug into her glass of orange juice.

Her death is briefly linked to suicide, but this is just spoken about and is clearly not accurate.

Sexual themes

The series features frequent passionate kissing, sexual comments, and jokes woven throughout the storyline. In one scene, a character is pressed against a window, highlighting the sexual tension between them, though the moment cuts off before anything further happens.

Infidelity is a recurring theme, with multiple affairs playing a central role in the plot. This includes relationships between an older man and younger women, as well as a younger man involved with an older French woman. In one scene, the young man emerges shirtless from beneath the sheets, and although nothing explicit is shown, it is implied that he has been performing oral sex. The series touches on power imbalances in age-diverse relationships, particularly focusing on the older man’s numerous affairs with younger women.

A woman announces that she used to be an escort but nothing further is talked about. 

Offensive language

There is frequent use of offensive language including words such as “f*ck”, “d*ck”, “sh*t” and sl*t. This ranges from casual use of the words to arguments and yelling, including a boy yelling at his father. 

Further information 

• Why are ratings and content warnings important for me and my whānau?