How Netflix Built the Two Worlds of ‘A Couple of Lies’
‘A Couple of Lies’ is a Swedish psychological thriller based on the novel of the same name by crime author Stefan Ahnhem. The limited series runs four episodes and premiered on Netflix in late October. It follows two couples who agree to swap homes and soon regret it.
For viewers who finished the series and started wondering about its settings, the production offers plenty to unpack. The filming locations of ‘A Couple of Lies’ matter more than usual because the houses themselves carry much of the story’s tension. Reports point to a very deliberate approach to where the cameras were placed.
A Couple of Lies Filming Locations Across Two Countries
The shoot took place in the Stockholm archipelago and in Sicily, and it wrapped in December of the year it began. Those are also the two places where the story is set. That match between the real and the fictional geography gives the series a grounded feel.
Because the settings are so central to the plot, the creators chose to film in real locations in order to show a more intimate side of the characters. Coverage of the release notes that filming wrapped in both Sweden and Sicily ahead of its debut. The contrast between a cool northern coastline and a sunlit Mediterranean hillside is built into the storytelling.
Kasper Barfoed, the Danish director behind the Netflix series ‘Chestnut Man’, directs all four episodes. His task was to make two very different homes feel equally unsettling. The choice of authentic properties helps him do that without relying on obvious tricks.
The Sicily Villa in Noto
The Sicilian home belonging to Scarlett was filmed at a hilltop villa in Contrada Cozzo Tondo in Noto, in the province of Siracusa. The private residence has ten bedrooms and seven bathrooms, with an interior of almost 11,000 square feet and nearly two and a half acres of grounds. It is a lavish setting that suits a couple who appear to have everything.
The villa was designed by Francesco Cassone and built in the early nineteenth century as a summer residence for the Marquis Rau della Ferla and Prince Nicolaci. That long history gives the property a weight that a modern rental would lack. It also makes the secrets inside feel older than the people who currently live there.
In the story, the villa does not quite match the photographs that Helene and Carl saw before they arrived. During their stay, Helene notices strange discrepancies in the house and begins to question her husband’s honesty. The grandeur of the place becomes a source of unease rather than comfort.
The Stockholm Archipelago House and Its Cliffside Setting
The Swedish house is reported to be Huset på klippan, or House on a Cliff, though the report says it was only likely used for filming. It was designed by Petra Gipp Arkitektur together with Katarina Lundeberg, completed in 2009, and stands on a rocky cliff overlooking a bay. Readers should treat that identification as a probable match rather than a confirmed one.
Within the story, the house is described as an architect designed home in the Stockholm archipelago. Scarlett becomes deeply unsettled there by intrusive surveillance equipment and the secretive history of her hosts. Curious neighbours and a locked dressing room add to the questions that Adam and Scarlett face.
Both locations serve as picturesque backdrops for the psychological thriller while subtly revealing a great deal about the characters. A polished modern house and a historic villa each project success, yet each hides something. That symmetry is what makes the home swap premise work so well on screen.
The Home Swap Story and the Team Behind the Series
The adaptation was written by Amanda Högberg as head writer together with Axel Stjärne, and it was produced by Frida Asp and Fatima Varhos for Asp Varhos. The two couples hope the swap will help rescue their marriages. The premise gives the writers an easy way to put strangers inside each other’s private spaces.
Frida Gustavsson plays Helene and Fares Fares plays Carl, the couple who leave Stockholm for Sicily, while Emma Appleton plays Scarlett and Jakob Oftebro plays Adam, who take over the Stockholm home. The wider ensemble includes Diarmuid Noyes, Magnus Krepper, Anna Bjelkerud and Lars Väringer. With so few principal characters, the settings do a lot of the work.
The series keeps its scale tight, and its two houses stay in the mind long after the final episode. If the real Noto villa and the cliffside archipelago home had been swapped between these four characters in your own viewing, which house would you have trusted less in ‘A Couple of Lies’ and why?
