Sometimes, the places where stories unfold are just as important as the characters who bring them to life. This is certainly the case with Sirens, the new Netflix miniseries created by Molly Smith Metzler and directed by Nicole Kassell. The true star of the show is Julianne Moore, who shines as Michaela “Kiki” Kell – a philanthropist, environmental activist, and eccentric matriarch – alongside Kevin Bacon as her billionaire husband, Peter Kell.

The story takes place over Labor Day weekend at the Kell family’s luxurious estate on a private island in New England. Devon’s arrival at this seemingly perfect paradise – she’s the sister of Michaela’s personal assistant – sparks suspicion and tension. Amid exclusive parties and eccentric rituals, the Kell mansion becomes the backdrop for class struggles, family secrets, and biting black humor.

The mansion, too, takes center stage. Inspired by the real Caumsett State Historic Park Reserve on Long Island, and renamed “Cliff House” for the series, it becomes the symbolic and visual anchor of the entire narrative. Digitally transformed, the house blends classic colonial elements with quirky “oligarch mansion” flourishes, dominating the coastal landscape and reflecting the series’ dual tone: a dreamlike place that feels too perfect to be real. Perched on a cliff on the fictional island of Port Haven, the mansion is accessed via a long, perforated metal staircase rising from the private dock. With its tower featuring a circular panoramic balcony and an infinity pool overlooking the sea, the house merges the elegance of a historic 1920s mansion with modern architectural touches designed to emphasize its grandeur. The set design integrates the panoramic tower and places a giant ornamental anchor in the gardens. 

When Devon, freshly arrived, looks around, she exclaims, “What is this place and why does everyone look like an Easter egg?!” That’s when it hits you: Sirens is a series that tells its story through a complete aesthetic. It’s a work of interior and exterior design, creating a world where architecture, fashion, furniture, and even peregrine falcons all contribute to the same obsessive vision.

From the very first scenes, the series highlights the blend of luxury and eccentricity. In one of the opening shots, we see Michaela strolling across the grounds of Cliff House, wearing an emerald green gown. In one hand, she holds a falconer’s glove, and in the other, she carries a white, veiled bamboo aviary with a peregrine falcon inside. This surreal and iconic image presents Kiki as an improbable nature goddess, signaling that every visual element in Sirens – from clothing to animals – serves a specific narrative purpose. Inside, the set design elevates Michaela’s aesthetic cult to an opulent surrealism. Aquamarine blues and pastel hues dominate the space, with dusty sky-blue walls, decorative blue columns, and sorbet-toned furniture. Contemporary artwork adorns nearly every wall, and quirky objects like a life-sized wooden horse sculpture peek out from the hallways. In the grand staircase, a stylized metal tree adorned with glowing silhouettes of birds of prey symbolizes Kiki’s passion for ornithology. Meanwhile, Peter, defeated and docile, strums his guitar while seated on the Boa sofa by the Campana Brothers for Edra.

The house features walk-in closets that resemble high-fashion boutiques. Michaela’s personal wardrobe, bathed in aquamarine tones, boasts rows of sparkling shoes arranged on crystal shelves. Dresses, handbags, and perfumes are meticulously organized by color. Even Simon, her assistant, has a fairy-tale pink walk-in closet with floral-patterned walls, which serves as the backdrop for a scene where Simon applies marshmallow-colored lipstick to match her pink macramé dress.

Every visual detail is obsessively crafted: the kitchen flaunts top-of-the-line appliances and a central island with white-veined marble and a green lacquered wood frame, surrounded by high stools with curved wooden backs. The English-style gardens are so perfectly manicured they seem unreal, with geometrically pruned hedges and snow-white hydrangeas. Kiki insists that no blue flower be out of place. 

Even the house staff is part of this aesthetic tableau, dressed in elegant pastel uniforms in mint, pink, and pale yellow. Kiki inspects their uniforms daily, adjusting bows, steaming lavender into the linens, and ensuring everything meets her flawless standards. The decision to saturate every frame with soft, preppy colors is meant to mask – and simultaneously emphasize – the dark cracks beneath the flawless surface. Sirens deliberately evokes the high-society enclaves of New England, where a strict pastel palette reigns supreme, hiding the sinister forces lurking just beneath the surface.

In a memorable sequence midway through the series, the mansion – which at times feels like something out of a Wes Anderson film – becomes the setting for an eccentric Vanity Fair photo shoot supporting Kiki’s environmental cause. The island’s women pose in the halls wearing matching jungle-print pink silk kimonos, paired with grotesque infrared light-up face masks (high-tech beauty devices) that make them look like alien creatures. The result is as elegant as it is disorienting, reinforcing the series’ ability to blend aesthetics with sharp irony.

In short, Sirens is a sophisticated and sadistic operation. The beauty of the architecture and furnishings is a trap; the house is a gilded aviary, and the design is a relentless mirror reflecting the cracks of a world that thrives on appearances and performance. Every column, curtain, and bow speaks of power, control, desire, and ruin. The mansion is a living body – a technicolor paradise inhabited by soulless sirens.