Should we embark on the poisonous thriller The Girlfriend on Prime Video? (critical)
Robin Wright, the mother, and Olivia Cooke, the girlfriend, compete in a fairly addictive thriller.
Seven years after the end of House of Cards, the impressive Robin Wright returns to television with a new series: The Girlfriend, amusing little unpretentious psychological thriller, and lots of good intentions.
In the oven and the mill, the unforgettable Jenny de Forrest Gump realizes, produces and embodies Laura, successful art merchant, filled wife, and above all very proud mother of her doctor of sons. But his perfect life begins to crumble the day he presents her new girlfriend: the impertinent Cherry. Very quickly, Laura persuades herself that the latter is only an ambitious manipulator ready to do anything to climb the social scale, and get her hands on a good party. Unless Laura is completely paranoid?
During six absolutely tense episodes, maliciously written by Naomi Sheldon and Gabbie Asher, The Girlfriend changes points of view, plays with our certainties and our nerves, to better sink into madness.
Let’s be clear: all this is not very “realistic” and we cannot say that we can really identify with these (very very rich) characters of pure and hard fiction. Impossible to recognize themselves in their behavior, and there is absolutely no lesson in life to learn from their excesses. There is just to sit down and have a sadistic pleasure in observing this destructive spiral which is inexorably getting carried away. A descent into hell who has something a little vicious, a little absurd too, even at times downright delusional.
But the face to face between the two women is intense enough for it to work. Because the performances of the magnetic Robin Wright, between maternal concern and stifling possessiveness, and the dazzling Olivia Cooke (from House of the Dragon), elusive and charismatic, admirably support the weight of this scenario sewn with white thread (so much so that it starts by the end …).
The series continues to gain momentum, pushing the limits of madness in the duel by the mother and the girlfriend.
Stupid ? Maybe. But it’s pretty complicated to get down, once we started.
So who are you going to support? The protective mother who mixes with everything or with the smart friend and arrivist?
The Girlfriend, 6 episodes broadcast on Prime Video on September 10, 2025
