The Undoing is a 2020 television mini-series that features a few screen legends in Donald Sutherland, Hugh Grant and Nicole Kidman. If you want to see a successful family get torn to pieces, then this is the film for you!
The story is nothing more than a modern day who-done-it tale which to some degree will remind many of some of those great murder mystery movies from yesteryear with a few contemporary touches such as nudity, foul language and some gore. The storyline revolves around the wealthy Fraser family, whose lives get turned upside down when oncologist Jonathan Fraser (Hugh Grant, Notting Hill) is accused of murdering his lover Elena Alves (Matilda De Angelis, Youtopia). Psychologist Grace Fraser (Nichole Kidman, The Others) is endlessly being questioned about the murder by Detective Joe Mendoza (Edgar Ramirez, The Bourne Ultimatum) as Jonathan has fled because he thinks the police are going to arrest him for a murder, which he swears that he did not commit. He admits to having an affair, but not the murder to his wife. This ultimately turns into a courtroom drama to prove Jonathan’s innocence, and slowly the truth of what happened is revealed, and the lives of the Frasers will never be the same again.
I just loved The Undoing. The characters are deep and will hold your interest with some great ‘cliffhanger’ style endings at the end of each episode. As expected, the cast did a tremendous job in their respective performances. Iconic actor Donald Sutherland once again shows he is still one of the best actors out there in his role as Franklin Reinhardt, Grace’s father. I have been a fan of him since the seventies with his unforgettable performance in Invasion of the Body Snatchers! Noma Dumezweni was also especially good as Reinhardt’s hand-picked attorney to defend Jonathan. Both Nichole Kidman and Hugh Grant were phenomenal, with them handing in arguably their best performances to date. Noah Jupe as Henry Fraser, the child who is torn apart is also marvelous and has a great future ahead of him. The direction by Susanne Bier is fluid, although I could have done without the endless close-ups of Nichole Kidman’s eyes. The cinematography by Anthony Dod Mantle is top-notch, capturing some beautiful New York scenery.
The Undoing has been released on Blu-ray by HBO and Warner Brothers Home Entertainment. The 1080p scan has been given a 4K scan and the image looks fantastic, with details generally looking excellent throughout, with rich colors, accurate flesh tones and deep black levels. Daylight scenes are especially vivid. No DNR or other digital enhancements appear to have been applied for this release.
Audio options for this release are English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and French Dolby Digital 5.1. I only listened to the English track and it was flawless with the dialog, musical scores by Evgueni Galperine and Sacha Galperine and other sounds coming it crisp and clear.
Subtitles for this release include English SDH, French, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish
There are some supplemental materials for this 2-disc release. Disc One has a feature called The Undoing Revelations has some mini bios about the characters. Disc 2 also has the same feature, again focusing on the characters and the infamous bridge scenes. Also on the second disc, Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant Introduce The Undoing. The disc contains another featurette, Creating The Undoing, which offers more about the cast, crew and production.
I thoroughly enjoyed The Undoing mini-series that I will certainly watch again. I thought it was quite memorable and have been thinking about it often since watching it. I watched the whole series in one fell swoop! The presentation by HBO and Warner Brothers with superb audio and video, along with some cool extras make this a recommended release!
The Undoing – Television Mini-Series
Director- Susanne Bier
Cast- Nicole Kidman, Hugh Grant, Noah Jupe, Donald Sutherland
Country of Origin- US
Distributor – HBO / Warner Brothers
Number of Discs – 2
Reviewed by – David Steigman
Date-4/26/21