Call it a guilty pleasure (although I never feel much guilt about it), but I’m an ardent fan of the Crazy Rich White Woman (CRWW) genre that has mushroomed in the last decade, whether through films or streaming. Some of our greatest actresses have turned in spectacularly charged performances in lurid, sudsy, blood-spattered melodramas about high-powered women who seem to have it all, but become embroiled in scandal and subterfuge and intrigue, and yes, sometimes even murder.
Just a partial roster: Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, and Laura Dern in “Big Little Lies.” Jessica Chastain in “The Forgiven.” Blake Lively in “A Simple Favor.” Jessica Biel in “The Better Sister.” Julianne Moore in “Sharper,” “Sirens,” and “May December.” Kidman, again, also in “The Undoing,” “Nine Perfect Strangers,” “Expats,” “The Perfect Couple,” and “Babygirl,” oh my.
Now comes the outlandish but undeniably entertaining Prime Video psychological thriller series “The Girlfriend,” featuring the mesmeric Robin Wright as Laura, a wealthy art gallery owner who will go to any lengths to protect her precious son Daniel (Laurie Davidson) after he falls in love with a perhaps dodgy and capricious young woman with the eyebrow-raising name of Cherry Laine (Olivia Cooke). Is Laura yet another example of a classic CRWW—or is she a lioness employing any means necessary to fend off a manipulative predator who could destroy her family? Well, discovering the truth (while enjoying a heaping plateful of schadenfreude) is all the fun in these series, innit?
Like many of the titles mentioned above, “The Girlfriend” is based on a popular page-turner from the 2010s—in this case, the 2017 novel of the same name by Michelle Frances. With Wright directing the first three episodes and the Irish filmmaker Andrea Harkin taking over for the final three, the series maintains a consistently fluid and at times stunning visual style, with beautiful locales, exquisite set design, and high-fashion costume work.
The story is told from a three-pronged POV, shifting from one lead character to their main rival—and then pulling back for omniscient sequences that present the unbiased truth and remind us that we’re watching a game of high-stakes psychological warfare. This technique (also employed in Frances’ novel, in a slightly different fashion) makes for darkly funny insights; even something as simple as one person receiving a bouquet from another, or a glance across the dinner table, becomes something very different when seen from contrasting perspectives.
“The Girlfriend” kicks off in ultimas res as the soundtrack provides the obligatory Slowed-Down, Plaintive Cover of a familiar 20th-century song—in this case, Lorde’s take on “Everybody Rules the World” by Tears for Fears. Cue the title card taking us back “5 MONTHS EARLIER,” and off we go. Robin Wright’s Laura is in her family’s towering and exquisitely appointed Victorian villa in St. John’s Wood in Westminster. She is overjoyed to welcome home her sweet (albeit pliable) son, Daniel, a medical student in his final year. So much, in fact, that their reunion is physically charged in a way that suggests an unhealthy relationship bordering on a Jocasta complex. (This is further confirmed when Daniel says of his new girlfriend, “You remind me of her.” His mother retorts, “She reminds you of me.” )
The controlling, coolly graceful Laura and her open-minded husband Howard (wonderfully layered work by Waleed Zuaiter), a financier with seriously deep pockets, have vastly different first impressions of their son’s girlfriend Cherry. Howard is charmed by Cherry’s ebullient personality and quick wit. Still, Laura instantly pegs Cherry as a conniving social climber who flaunts her sexuality and has Daniel wrapped around her…finger.
By the time Daniel brings Cherry along on the family’s annual vacation to the gloriously sun-drenched Province of Málaga on Spain’s Southern Mediterranean coast (time for more real estate porn), the battle lines have been drawn. With title cards shifting perspective from “LAURA” to “CHERRY” to “LAURA,” etc., mother and girlfriend become embroiled in a twisted and increasingly feverish battle for Daniel’s loyalties. At times, it’s as if we’re watching an incestuous take on “Fatal Attraction.” But we also see some shocking evidence that Laura might be justified in taking drastic measures to eliminate Cherry from Daniel’s life.
Midway through the series, one character makes a decision that is so bonkers that some viewers might give up the game. Not only is it a radical and cruel maneuver, it seems nearly impossible to pull off. Either you take that with a large shaker of salt and go with it, or you don’t. (I just rolled my eyes and rolled with it.) With perfectly timed needle drops ranging from “Look a Little on Sunny Side” by the Kinks to “To Bring You My Love” by PJ Harvey to “Everybody Supports Women” by Sofia Isella on the soundtrack.
A backdrop that takes us inside the upscale world of high-end hotels, art galleries, and beautiful homes, “The Girlfriend” is, at the end, escapist trash. But it’s glossy and richly satisfying trash, right up until the perfectly devilish epilogue.
