Should you be in need of a satisfying Rich People Show, the sort where you get happily distracted from the plot due to swooning over the wallpaper, look no further than “The Perfect Couple,” newly arriving on Netflix this week. This limited series, based on Elin Hilderbrand’s 2018 novel, is a murder mystery that unfolds over a wedding weekend at a sprawling Nantucket estate that’s basically Downton Abbey with iPhones, sea breezes and NDAs. The splendidly named Greer Garrison Winbury (Nicole Kidman) is the ruler of this domain as well as mother of the groom, and is the sort who swans around her own home in impeccable silk-blouse-and-trouser ensembles, complaining about how busy she is while the staff actually does the work. Greer is a nightmare, but then again so is pretty much everyone else on this show, which is why watching it is a lot of fun.

Over five episodes (the sixth was not made available for preview), we endlessly revisit the events of the night of the rehearsal dinner: a wildly lavish party, indistinguishable from an actual wedding to non-rich-person eyes, after which a body washes up on the beach. This, alas, puts quite the kibosh on the following day’s wedding plans — “We’re all sort of devastated,” Greer pouts on the phone, while applying lip gloss — and requires everyone to cattily recount said events to the Nantucket police force while changing their outfits a lot.

“The Perfect Couple” has a large and sometimes confusing cast of characters, many of whom have the sort of names — Greer’s husband is Tag, the best man is Shooter and the maid of honor is Merritt Monaco — that sound randomly chosen from a J.Crew catalog. (I am very sorry to report, however, that a character from the book named “Featherleigh Dale” does not make it into the series; clearly somebody drew a line.) At the center of the story is Amelia (Eve Hewson), the non-rich bride-to-be who’s constantly getting in trouble with Greer for things like not wearing “the family bathrobe” in the morning. (Apparently there’s a breakfast dress code?) At one point, Greer catches Amelia, who’s begun her own little investigation of the murder, downstairs snooping at night, and Amelia hesitantly fibs that she was thirsty. “Don’t you have a CARAFE by your bed?” hisses Greer, like a district attorney delightedly catching the star witness in a lie (and why is Nicole Kidman not in a series where she does this every week?). You really have to feel for Amelia; poor girl doesn’t have a chance.

Anyway, so lots of juicy stuff happens involving Greer’s book launch. (Yes, she is a world-famous author in her spare time! And a person unafraid to schedule an enormous family wedding and a book launch in the same week!). Greer’s husband Tag (Liev Schreiber), who’s not so much a character as a loose assemblage of stubble and mumbling and expensive Scotch, skulks about glaring at everyone. And all the while, the view of the turquoise coastline remains glorious. It’s fun trying to figure out which is the top Rich Person Comment made during the show; the above-mentioned carafe line is right up there, as is daughter-in-law Abby (Dakota Fanning, enjoying herself immensely) whining about her dress when a cake fight threatens to break out: “This is vintage.” The winner, however, just might be Greer’s stentorian rendition of “There are oysters at the gate!” (File this under Rich People Problems: what to do when the wedding is off, and yet the catering still shows up.)

By the end of “The Perfect Couple,” you may no longer care who murdered whom — honestly, every single one of these people seems quite capable of bumping off another before it’s time to change for happy hour. But you may care a great deal about trying to figure out how many guest rooms the Winburys have on their massive estate (I lost count, as there are a couple of cute cottages in the mix) and what their throw-pillow budget must look like. And you’ll definitely have fun watching Kidman sink her teeth into this role. There’s not much subtlety here, but there’s definitely pleasure.

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'THE PERFECT COUPLE'

Rating: TV-MA

How to watch: Netflix

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