Big Little Lies
ビッグ・リトル・ライズ
Storyline
The whole story, ending included.
Monterey mothers, a murder, and Nicole Kidman's performance of a marriage that is both violent and erotic.
Monterey, California. Someone dies on the night of a school fundraiser, and the first season works back to it from the first day of school. Madeline Mackenzie, strong-willed and meddling, takes up Jane Chapman, a young single mother new in town, after Jane's son, Ziggy, is accused of hurting Amabella, the daughter of the wealthy Renata Klein, and the mothers take sides. Madeline's friend Celeste Wright, a lawyer who gave up her career, seems to have a perfect marriage, but her husband, Perry, beats her and coerces her into sex, and with a therapist's help she begins, slowly, to plan her way out. Jane confides that Ziggy was conceived when a man calling himself Saxon Banks raped her. Madeline hides an old affair, while her teenage daughter goes to live with Madeline's ex-husband and his wife, Bonnie. The child hurting Amabella turns out to be one of Celeste's twin sons, copying his father. On trivia night Celeste tells Perry she is leaving, he attacks her, and Jane recognises him as the man who raped her. As the women try to fight him off, Bonnie pushes him down a flight of stairs and he dies. All five tell the police that he fell.
In the second season the lie weighs on each of them. Perry's mother, Mary Louise, comes to stay with Celeste, asks questions, refuses to believe that her son was violent or that he raped Jane, and sues Celeste for custody of her grandsons. Grieving and struggling, Celeste is taken apart in court, then questions Mary Louise herself and shows a video one of her sons made of Perry abusing her. She keeps the boys, and Mary Louise leaves Monterey. Ed learns of Madeline's affair; after therapy they renew their vows. Jane lets a kind colleague, Corey, come close, and Ziggy approves. Renata's husband, Gordon, is arrested for fraud and they lose their fortune; when he puts his model train set before her, she smashes it and leaves him. Bonnie, haunted, confesses to her dying mother and tells her husband she does not love him. In the last scene she goes to the police to confess, and the other four walk into the station with her.
Starring
Reese Witherspoonas Madeline Mackenzie
A strong-willed, meddling mother at the centre of Monterey's school politics, hiding an affair from her second husband.
Madeline Mackenzie’s story
Madeline takes Jane under her wing on the first day of school and goes to war with Renata on Ziggy's behalf, even booking a rival outing on the day of Amabella's party. At home she resents her ex-husband's new wife, Bonnie, and loses her teenage daughter, Abigail, to their house. She tracks down a man she thinks raped Jane, then regrets it. Her old affair with Joseph, a theatre director, slips out in a row with Abigail, and on trivia night, drunk and guilty, she runs from Ed's song and confesses it to Jane. She is on the stairs when Perry dies, and swears he fell. In the second season Ed learns of the affair; after therapy and her promise to do better, they renew their vows, and at the end she walks into the police station beside Bonnie.
Nicole Kidmanas Celeste Wright
A former lawyer and mother of twins whose outwardly perfect marriage hides her husband's violence.
Celeste Wright’s story
Celeste gave up the law for her twin boys and a marriage that looks perfect from outside; in private Perry hits her, chokes her and coerces her into sex, which she hides even from her therapist until the therapist names it as abuse. She plans her escape and rents an apartment, then learns that her son Max has been hurting Amabella, copying his father. On trivia night, when she tells Perry she is leaving, he attacks her, Jane recognises him as her rapist, and Bonnie pushes him down the stairs. Grieving and dependent on sleeping pills, Celeste is taken apart in court when Perry's mother sues for the boys, then questions Mary Louise herself and plays the video her son took of Perry beating her. She keeps her sons, and walks into the police station with Bonnie.
Shailene Woodleyas Jane Chapman
A young single mother new to Monterey, raising a son conceived in a rape, and unable to stop looking for the man.
Jane Chapman’s story
Jane comes to Monterey for a fresh start with her son, Ziggy, and on the first day he is accused of choking Amabella. She confides to Madeline that Ziggy's father is a man calling himself Saxon Banks, who raped her. She carries a gun and drives to San Luis Obispo to confront a man Madeline has found, the wrong man. When Ziggy tells her it was one of Celeste's twins who hurt Amabella, she tells Celeste. On trivia night she recognises Perry as her rapist, just before he dies on the stairs. In the second season she tells Ziggy how he was conceived and lets a colleague, Corey, come slowly closer, breaking down the first time she tries to be intimate. By the end they are together, with Ziggy's blessing, and she walks into the police station with the others.
Laura Dernas Renata Klein
A wealthy, volatile businesswoman fiercely protective of her daughter, who loses her fortune in the second season.
Zoë Kravitzas Bonnie Carlson
A yoga teacher married to Madeline's ex-husband, who causes Perry's death and cannot live with the lie.
Meryl Streepas Mary Louise Wright
Perry's mother, who arrives after his death, refuses to believe what he was and fights Celeste for her grandsons.
Why it matters
Big Little Lies uses the gloss of a wealthy seaside town, school runs, ocean views, competitive mothers, to show how domestic abuse can hide inside a marriage everyone envies. Celeste's story is its core: a capable woman who minimises, excuses and plans around her husband's violence, and whose sex life with him is bound up with it, which the series shows without pretending the two can be separated. Around her it sets the long shadow of rape on Jane, and the way a mother can refuse to see what her son was. It won eight Emmys for its first season, including awards for Nicole Kidman, Laura Dern and Alexander Skarsgård. Its second season asks what a shared lie costs the women who told it to protect one another, and ends on a question the series leaves open: whether telling the truth together can be a form of solidarity rather than surrender.