I'm not entirely sure, but I think this is my first Dutch movie, series. Lately I've turned to European, West Asia and Middle East movies as first of all, I'm fed up with Hollywood and want to explore other options. Scandi is leading by a large margin, but I want to give a chance to other countries too, this is why I was happy to see The Perfect Lie and started watching right away.
Four couples in a tight-knit group enjoy an extravagant lifestyle; their web of lies starts to unravel when the villa of one couple burns down, killing one member.
As the storyline says, we have the chance to get a glimpse into four couples' life. Four couples living in the same Dutch village, close to the sea, who's kids attend the same school and classes.
It is a limited series with 7 episodes ans each episode is focusing on one of the main characters.
At the beginning I had mixed feelings about it as it's not the first series I watch structured like this and usually you see either a slow burning story, or a story repeated and presented from many angles, through each character. It's not that I don't like such genre, but you need to be in the mood for it.
After a couple of episodes, it reminded me of a fantastic movie or two, I've seen of Ferzan Özpetek, a very talented Turkish-Italian director, screenwriter and writer. I'm referring to Saturn in Opposition and The Ignorant Fairies. Anyway, let's get back to The Perfect Lie, shall we?
The beginning of the series looks really promising, we get to know the life of these four couples, which is not a usual ones. The families are very different and I can say the only link between them are the children (as they are classmates) and the parties. It's a closed circle, they party together, the women spend time together and men too separately. To make the parties more excited, besides alcohol, there are drugs too. It looks like they are having the time of their life, all the time.
At first it seems like heaven and the perfect life as who doesn't want live close to the sea, have lovely friends and party all the time, but as it happens in life, nothing is as it seems. Some games at certain parties are borderline, some even cross the line. Saying no or quitting would result in some eyebrows raised, so Karen and Michel find themselves in delicate situations.
The death of one of their friend, when their house burns down comes as a shock. Everyone is a suspect and during the investigation, a lot of well hidden secrets come out and as I mentioned above, we learn that no life is as perfect as it looks at the beginning and some really dark secrets are revealed. Things get even more complicated when one of the ladies fall from the balcony and turns out it wasn't an accident.
I have to give credit where it's due, so I have to admit, the characters are well written. The writers have spent the necessary time to make them as diversified as possible and interesting too. Each person has their own story and twists and turns are not missing either. I tried to figure out what' going on or who's the culprit, but couldn't.
The road in every marriage is bumpy, there are obstacles to face, holes to jump through and how you choose to solve the problems shapes your life. I would give an extra point to the writer for giving the viewers the time and chance to try to put themselves in the characters' shoes and see what they would have done.
The funny thing is, I think we all have a favorite character in each movie, series and when you have at least eight lead actors, there's plenty to choose from. I tried to stick to only one, as the others all had something I didn't like, but towards the end, I lost my favorite as could not agree with their actions.
It is definitely a series worth watching, but it's not one that I'd rewatch shortly. or who knows?
Rating: 80/100
Originally posted through scrobble.life/tv.
