Nicole Kidman’s wig and Mark Strong sizzle in quasi cosy crime saga-OxBig News Network

Nicole Kidman’s statuesque wellness guru, Masha Dmitrichenko, is back with a striking angular bob for another psychedelically-enhanced retreat. After the horrors of Tranquillum House last season, Masha has resettled at the gracious Zauberwald, a family-run wellness retreat in the Austrian Alps. As in Season 1, Masha gathers disparate individuals from different walks of life with the promise of rejuvenation.  

The guests at Zauberwald include society woman Victoria (Christine Baranski), her much younger lover, Matteo (Aras Aydın), and sulky daughter, Imogen (Annie Murphy).

Agnes (Dolly de Leon) was a nun in an earlier life, while Brian (Murray Bartlett) is a disgraced former puppeteer, who ran a wildly successful children’s show.

Tina (King Princess) was a musical prodigy who has lost her will to play the piano, a cause of much distress to her partner, Wolfie (Maisie Richardson-Sellers), a gifted violinist. David (Mark Strong), a billionaire, and his son, Peter (Henry Golding) complete the guest list.  

Martin (Lucas Englander), a pharmacologist, helps Masha run the retreat at Zauberwald. Martin’s mother Helena (Lena Olin) owned Zauberwald and mentored Masha in the wellness business besides helping her get through a difficult time.

Unlike Season 1, which was an adaptation of Liane Moriarty’s eponymous book, Season 2 has created new (not original) storylines. We learn more about Masha’s past as a journalist — she has gone through quite a few reinventions herself, from journalist to corporate head honcho to wellness guru murmuring Namaste in flowing robes.  

The guests all have secrets and are battling issues, from Tina losing the joy of playing the piano to Brian’s PTSD after an on-set meltdown. Agnes has lost her faith, Imogen and Peter suffer from parental neglect and David is the standard-issue slimy rich bloke.

There is an Agatha Christie vibe with the isolated setting, past sins casting long shadows, strangers who might be connected, an unfair will, curdled love and the final denouement where each person is called upon to explain their choices in what a character describes as a “psychedelic witch trial.”

The clothes, especially Kidman’s paradoxically fitted-flowy trouser suits and sweeping coats in jewel tones, are eye-wateringly lovely. The dialogue is a blast from Victoria describing the Golden Globes and the Canonisation as “money laundering schemes with fabulous wardrobes” to David threatening Masha that she will crawl “from courtroom to courtroom like a slug.”

Kidman, paired with a posh and powerful Strong, is the slinky centre of this show. The flashbacks show the two looking stunning without the use of de-aging tech.

Bartlett, after his star turn as the harried manager in The White Lotus, is now on the other side as a guest, and watchable as ever. David E. Kelley, who adapted Moriarty’s Big Little Lies, also featuring Kidman, has created a shiny show, which, while not making too much sense, is a blast nevertheless.

Nine Perfect Strangers is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video

Published – July 05, 2025 05:19 pm IST