Holland feels like a half-baked thriller with a solid premise but a lackluster execution. Mimi Cave’s Fresh had a bold, distinctive style, whereas Holland feels like a retread of better films with similar narratives. Nicole Kidman stars alongside Matthew Macfadyen and Gael García Bernal.
‘Holland’ Movie Review
Fresh off her acclaimed performance in Babygirl, Nicole Kidman returns in Holland, a thriller directed by Mimi Cave in her follow-up to Fresh (2022). Like Fresh, Holland plays with themes of gender dynamics, trust in relationships, and hidden identities. This time, Kidman stars alongside Matthew Macfadyen and Gael García Bernal, but despite a promising premise, Holland struggles to deliver the tension and intrigue it sets out to create.
Kidman plays Nancy, a schoolteacher living a seemingly normal life with her optometrist husband, Fred (Macfadyen), and their young son, Harry (Jude Hill). Fred often travels for work, but Nancy grows suspicious after finding a receipt from a city he never mentioned visiting. Enlisting her coworker Dave (Bernal) to help investigate, she assumes she’s uncovering an affair—until she discovers something much worse: Fred is a serial killer who’s been operating for years under her nose.
The film unfolds through Nancy’s perspective, letting us follow her as she pieces together the truth. However, the mystery lacks real suspense. By the time Holland finally reveals Fred’s secret, the film has telegraphed it so clearly that the moment falls flat. In contrast, Fresh delivered a mid-film twist that felt genuinely shocking; Holland never reaches that level of surprise.
Despite Kidman’s presence, Nancy is an underwritten protagonist. She plays the worried wife for most of the runtime, never given much room to evolve. Compared to her recent performance in Babygirl, where she had significantly more depth to explore, Holland feels like a step down. Macfadyen, however, is the film’s biggest strength. He leans into his trademark charm with just the right amount of menace bubbling beneath the surface, and his scenes with Kidman are easily the film’s most engaging moments.
The weakest link is Gael García Bernal as Dave. His character is supposed to be a confidant, an emotional anchor, and a potential romantic interest for Nancy, yet his subdued performance makes it hard to see why she would turn to him. Instead of feeling like a vital piece of the story, Dave exists mainly as a plot device, failing to add any real tension or chemistry.
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Ultimately, Holland feels like a half-baked thriller with a solid premise but a lackluster execution. Mimi Cave’s Fresh had a bold, distinctive style, whereas Holland feels like a retread of better films with similar narratives. Even with a strong cast, the film never finds its footing, lacking the memorable twists or compelling performances that could have elevated it. Now streaming on Amazon Prime, Holland has all the makings of a direct-to-streaming thriller—watchable but forgettable.
Score: 4/10
Holland (2025)
- Cast: Nicole Kidman, Gael García Bernal, Matthew Macfadyen, Jude Hill, Rachel Sennott
- Director: Mimi Cave
- Genre: Mystery, Thriller
- Runtime: 108 minutes
- Rated: R
- Release Date: March 27, 2025
- Movies Like Holland: Presence, Last Night in Soho, Mothers’ Instinct