They say that 50% of a successful actor’s career has nothing to do with his technical ability, but with his perception and choice of the material he will work with. In fact, if you look at the careers of the few that don’t slip, we’ll see that the consistency of the work lies in the content that allows for great performance. In a world in which we live asking and suggesting who would be ‘the new Meryl Streep‘ we have had our answer for years: Nicole Kidman. The Expats series, from Amazon Prime Video, is just another vehicle where the actress once again shows us why she is the best actress working in Hollywood at the moment. She is powerful.

Expatriates is the adaptation of the 2016 book with the same title, written by Janice Y.K., and it is a drama that makes us uncomfortable 100% of the time. We follow the stories of three Americans living in Hong Kong and the conflicts that move their lives away from home. It’s another series that relies on non-linearity to tell the story (I even yawn when highlighting the detail), but here the purpose is traditional, especially concerning Margaret (Nicole Kidman), an architect who is emotionally broken while maintains a confident facade, who has a painful relationship with her children and her husband, Clarke (Brian Tee). The family left New York for China thanks to his work and, as a result, Margaret became frustrated because it hindered her career. A terrible accident changes their lives forever, leading Margaret to suffer, veiled and distant from everyone. It has something to do with a child called ‘Gus’, which is only explained in the second episode, twisting our souls.

Sorry for the SPOILER, but as I’m focusing on Nicole’s performance, it’s necessary. Gus, obviously, is (or was) Margaret and Clarke’s son and the link between the three women. Like Hilary (Sarayu Blue) the neighbor, who also has a tense relationship with Margaret. Hilary and her husband, David (Jack Huston), have a failing marriage, but we still don’t know the full extent of the problem. And we have the series’ narrator, Mercy (Ji-young Yoo), an American of Korean origin who now works as a caterer, and has a serious trauma that prevents her from moving on with her life. Of course, it has to do with Gus. I will avoid giving ‘what’ happens so as not to 100% spoil the story’s turn.

Not only is Nicole stunning in yet another role as a suffering privileged woman, but she is also the producer of the series. She bought the rights to the book even before stealing the spotlight in Big Little Lies and brought in sensitive director Lulu Wang to give the necessary cohesion to such a painful story. The COVID-19 pandemic was an even greater obstacle for the production, which had to shoot scenes in the Chinese city, particularly sparking angry reactions when the actress and several crew members obtained an exemption from the quarantine rules that applied to everyone else. upon arrival in Hong Kong. If it weren’t like this, we wouldn’t even be seeing Expats in 2025.

The series makes social and political criticism, but the main focus is the drama of pain, showing who causes it and who feels it equally, without placing them in antagonistic positions. Some critics complain about the cultural insensitivity of having a plot shot in Hong Kong when it could be “anywhere else”, but it doesn’t matter. The fact is that the story precisely wants to raise the question that people who live in another country and city, even with privileges, are not locally connected and cannot return home without being different. It is a limbo and then it must be as “exotic” as possible, even if it is “easy”, to highlight the disconnection. And yet what made the news is that Expats was censored in Hong Kong for showing scenes from the 2014 protests where the population demanded the return of democracy (since 2000, the city that belonged to the British was ‘returned’ to China).

If it weren’t for Nicole Kidman‘s mastery of playing women’s roles dealing with grief and trauma, Expats would have a less dramatic impact. Her surrender to the whirlwind of guilt and regret that Margaret suffers resonates with the audience with the empathy that only the Australian can awaken. Nicole is not afraid of unpleasant, complex, and flawed characters. The unimaginable emotional upheaval that the character faces reminded me that she was equally wonderful in the film Lion, a mirror of Expats in some way. You will understand after watching the episodes. The most important thing is to see how Nicole is creating a universe of women undergoing emotional reconstruction, an uncomfortable journey of self-knowledge, but also of hope and honesty. It’s another sure Emmy nomination.

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