The mood and pace of Expats is unusual, in a world of streaming where shows have to be instantly compulsive. “A very different piece of television, this,” says Nicole Kidman. “It’s a slow burn. I feel it’s more aligned to, say, Kieślowski with Dekalog, or Bergman’s Scenes from a Marriage.” Kidman is speaking by Zoom from LA, in a room with her co-stars, Sarayu Blue and Ji-young Yoo. At one point, a disembodied hand reaches into the screen to hand them all a fluffy towel to keep warm – they’re in a cold studio. I feel as if I’m on a spa day with a global celebrity, a comedy genius and a gen Z firebrand.
Directed by Lulu Wang, Expats follows the tense, tight, slightly airless lives of three women – Margaret (Kidman), Hilary (Blue) and Mercy (Yoo) – American expatriates in Hong Kong, as tragedy strikes and Margaret loses her youngest child. The part is pitch-perfect for Kidman, who does such reliable all-purpose goddess at the box office that you can forget how much she comes alive in more experimental films (Eyes Wide Shut, Birth, Stoker). Blue, who fronted the sitcom I Feel Bad and had smaller roles in Veep and The Big Bang Theory, plays straight with an insistent ironic undertow, dark humour lurking round every corner. Yoo is the industry’s new discovery, first cast for the screen in 2020, while still in the middle of her degree.
