Diksha Sundriyal
In Netflix’s ‘A Couple of Lies,’ a fun vacation of swapped houses turns into a violent tale of murder and secrets. The story begins with Helene and Carl moving into a Sicilian villa owned by Scarlett and Adam, in return for the latter couple staying in their house in Stockholm. Both couples are trying to turn over a new leaf, but the stakes are particularly high for Helene and Carl. She is pregnant, and with a baby on the horizon, she wishes for Carl to spend less time at work and more time with her. However, things don’t go as expected, and eventually her pregnancy plays an important role in how the events unfold. Interestingly, the actress who played Helene could deeply connect with the character’s position as a soon-to-be-mother.
Frida Gustavsson Shared a Key Detail With Helene
Frida Gustavsson plays the role of Helene in ‘A Couple of Lies.’ The character is in the later stages of her pregnancy when we first see her set off on a much-needed vacation with Carl. Since the story takes place over a few days, she remains pregnant throughout the four episodes. Reportedly, Gustavsson was also pregnant at the time of filming in 2025. She confirmed that she gave birth to her first child with her husband, Marcel Engdahl, in early 2026. Talking about the experience of being pregnant while playing a pregnant character, the actress revealed that she was a bit hesitant at first.
While she has played a pregnant character before in ‘Vikings: Valhalla,’ she was skeptical about playing Helene and bringing her own pregnancy to the screen in such a public way. She also wondered if she would actually be able to enjoy the process or if it would become a bit too much. However, as she gave the matter more thought, she found it a unique and special experience to share something so deeply personal with a character. She also noted that pregnancies and childbirth are often not accurately depicted on screen. Usually, when an actress is pregnant, their bump is hidden using props and other diversions. And when the character is pregnant, the actresses are given fake bumps.
Citing her own prior experience, she noted that it was one thing to play a pregnant person while not being pregnant herself, and an entirely different thing to play a pregnant character while being pregnant herself. Not only did her personal experience and physicality inform her performance, but it also allowed her to present a more realistic pregnancy on the screen. “Hopefully maybe other women will see it and can see a pregnancy that is a little closer to what reality looks like than these loose bellies you have, and you weigh absolutely the same as you did before and no one looks like that,” she added. This, along with the character’s complex nature, made Helene feel more realistic, lending the story more gravity and thrill.
You must be logged in to post a comment.