A Perfect Story Review: Un Cuento Perfecto, based on the novel by Elisabet Benavent, has now received a web series adaptation on Netflix starring Anna Castillo as Margot and Alvaro Mel as David in the lead roles. Directed by Chloe Wallace, it also stars Ana Belén, Jimmy Castro, Tai Fati and others, and has been written for the screen by Marina Perez.
With 5 episodes in the first season of the limited series, the Spanish romantic drama’s episode runtime ranges between 35-53 minutes. Releasing altogether on Netflix on July 28, 2023, the show is rated Adult due to nudity and intimate scenes. English subtitles and dubs in other languages are also available on the streaming platform.
A Perfect Story Netflix Movie Review Contains Mild Spoilers
A Perfect Story Plot
As Margot’s wedding day crawls nearer, her dread for the situation expands further. Despite being in love with her fiancé, her life defined by restrictions and an affluent decorum barely leaves a window open for her to breathe freely. While being a hotel heiress has its perks socio-economically, she never quite feels like she’s the main character of her own life, and so she becomes the famed runaway bride.
Simultaneously, coming from the far end of the social status and working three jobs to make ends meet, David’s superficial relationship with his girlfriend has overtaken his life as he can’t quite spot the underlying toxicity defining it. His girlfriend eventually breaks his heart as she feels that he doesn’t have anything to offer. Though heartbroken, his lingering fixation with her keeps tugging at his heart. Soon after, his path crosses that of Margot and they plan to work together to make their respective partners jealous. But as most stories of the kind move on, their dynamic starts to shift as Cupid works its magic.
A Perfect Story Review
We’ve all watched movies of this kind before, knowing well enough how they’re going to end. With Un Cuento Perfecto, you can expect the same track to not surprise you at all. This brings us to the next important bit. If the story is the same refurbished run-of-the-mill content, then we can at least count on the leading pair’s chemistry, right? That’s what many such series or movies have won us over with. Unfortunately, while we know that sparks are bound to fly between Margot and David, when they actually do, their romance never quite emerges us a winning bet for the series.
Their likability as a couple sticks as long as they’re donning the roles of “new found friends playing pretend in a fake relationship”, which is quite an early point in the series too. Once they finally decide to jump in and get into the messy complicated situation of falling for each other, their “love story” still doesn’t come up as a heartwarming exchange. Ironically, Margot scoffs at how David considered sex the best thing about his relationship with his girlfriend, but eventually theirs too becomes the same thing, but for some reason their words try to stretch out the supposed profundity of their relationship, which is perfectly missing from the equation.
The initial steps of their friendship, though predictably leading to the step we all knew about, were still cute to some extent, but their relationship doesn’t take off beyond a superficial connection, making it harder for the viewer to root for them. 5 episodes give way to an appropriate time length for the story to expand and develop instead of having an elongated storyline that wasn’t needed for it. But again, despite that, the series isn’t as well paced as one would’ve wanted it to be.
Every time I get into such titles, a part of me keeps hoping for something more than the cliche-packed narrative, but once more, this Netflix limited series had to wear the same old cloak of predictability. The Greek vacation episodes were a blessing to watch in terms of their visual offerings, but a series has to be defined by more than just its travel aesthetics.
The final episode suddenly switches tracks and hands out a surprisingly open-ended format to the story. But, by then it’s too late to interject any kind of suspense or “what if” scenarios to gain the audience’s interest and curiosity. This particular change does lead to the arousal of some questions, but it never works in the favour of pulling the series through for us.
K-dramas and fairy tales like Cinderella have all worked around pushing for the same “rich boy meets the struggling girl” trope, but A Perfect Story flips the character board over in hopes of according the female lead (Castillo) with agency, especially considering she ran away from her own wedding. But instead of sending her off to Greece on a soul-searching expedition, her life gets caught in another story determined by the heteronormative cage of love.
I’m not saying that falling in love is wrong, but for a character like Margot who ultimately sought liberation in her life, it would’ve been better if she’d been written off with a worthy character development, while falling in love could’ve easily come second. Similarly, David’s character isn’t a wholesome addition either, his is actually an even more static character who comes back to the same point he began from while being driven around by his insecurities, that were again not delved into much.
The movie also introduces us to Margot’s sisters, and while it could’ve turned in a great direction to see how their relationship was, especially under the purview of the kind of controlling mother they had. However, that dynamic barely lets us in on a subplot about one of her sisters’ marriage as well, which again doesn’t amount to anything at all.
A Perfect Story 2023: Final Thoughts
This is neither the first nor the last of its kind of romantic drama series. You can tune into it if you’re craving for an easy-going plot line that doesn’t ask much of you. Enjoy the picturesque getaway offered to you by the Greek locations, and allow your mind to shut down as you watch this show. As long as you don’t look in too deep, A Perfect Story makes for a softhearted romance track, with the main couple’s chemistry having its highs and lows. But, if you’re looking forward to something profound and heart-wrenching, then it’s better that you drive away from this one.
All 5 episodes of A Perfect Story are now streaming on Netflix.
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Thanks for the review. For this genre, however, I thought this one was better than most. Not all entertainment has to be a life-changing experience. Sometimes it can be like a comfortable couch or a friend to keep you company. For many people, daily life is difficult enough without coming home and sitting through 3 hours of someone turning on the spit. The ending may be predictable, but that alone should not bother us, if we enjoy watching the actors and seeing the locales. For this type of movie, I would grade it on the curve: 4 out of 5 stars..
I loved this program. I had to watch ending several times then come to this conclusion, only to give my brain a rest.
I think that Margot and David did meet and go to Greece, enjoying their time together. When the vacation ended and Margot went back to her old life and she reorganized her company that was actually part of the story. Then Margot went to London did meet the man with the dog started dating and become serious with him. But Margot never forgot David and decided to write a book about her adventures with David. This was a way to bring David to a conclusion in her head and heart. I came to this scenario after seeing her writing in her computer and then going over and touching the flowers, which I do think she brought with her (I have actually done this myself in order to always have that person with me). To me this makes sense and as I said, this gets me to stop rewatching the ending and gives my brain a rest.