A Haunting in Venice (2023) 20th Century/Horror-Thriller RT: 103 minutes Rated PG-13 (some strong violence, disturbing images, thematic elements) Director: Kenneth Branagh Screenplay: Michael Green Music: Hildur Gudnadottir Cinematography: Haris Zambarloukos Release date: September 15, 2023 (US) Cast: Kenneth Branagh, Kyle Allen, Camille Cottin, Jamie Dornan, Tina Fey, Jude Hill, Ali Khan, Emma Laird, Kelly Reilly, Rowan Robinson, Riccardo Scamarcio, Michelle Yeoh.
Rating: ***
It’s no secret that I’m not the biggest fan of Kenneth Branagh’s adaptations of Agatha Christie murder mysteries. His first, Murder on the Orient Express, was a bore. The next, last year’s Death of the Nile, was only slightly better. Part of the problem, for me anyway, is that I saw and loved the OG film adaptations from 1974 and 1978 respectively. They were fun and entertaining whodunits that kept you guessing until the end when brilliant sleuth Hercule Poirot would finally reveal the identity of the killer and how he/she did it. The respective directors, Sidney Lumet and John Guillermin, showed reverence to Christie’s work without taking it too seriously. That’s the other part of the problem. It didn’t feel like Branagh was having any fun with the stories or the character. He portrayed him as a brooding loner uncomfortable in his own skin. I kept thinking “lighten up, Ken”. It’s not like he’s doing another Shakespeare play.
Is it possible Branagh heard my psychic plea? Well, like Hamlet says, “there are more things in heaven and earth…. than are dreamt of in [man’s] philosophy”. This is a good quote to keep in mind as you watch A Haunting in Venice, the third and best of the Branagh-Christie collaborations, in that it deals in part with the supernatural. Naturally, Poirot is a skeptic. As an atheist, why would he believe any of that mumbo jumbo? He’s about to have his beliefs (or non-beliefs) put to the test.
Let me preface my plot description by saying that I’ll only reveal what’s shown in the trailer. As it’s a mystery, it would be a crime tantamount to murder to give anything away. That being said, let’s get to it. It’s 1947 and Poirot is living in exile in Venice having retired from the sleuthing business. He’s all alone, save for the hulking bodyguard (Scamarcio, John Wick: Chapter 2) who keeps potential clients at bay, and prefers to keep it that way. That is, until an old friend (sort of) shows up at his place with an invite. Author Ariadne Oliver (Fey, Mean Girl), whose best sellers feature a detective that’s a lot like Poirot, wants him to accompany her to a Halloween party for war orphans. The festivities will be followed a séance. Ariadne sees a new book in having him there to debunk presumably phony medium Joyce Reynolds (Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once).
The party and séance are to be held in a spooky Gothic-style palazzo that supposedly houses the spirits of children left to die there during the Plague. Weird things, including deaths, have been known to happen there. The most recent is Alicia (Robinson), a young woman who allegedly jumped to her death from a third floor window. Her grieving mother, former opera singer Rowena (Reilly, Yellowstone), wants to contact her in the afterlife. That’s why Joyce and several others are present. Eventually, one of the guests ends up dead, murdered, and somebody’s responsible. Poirot does what any good detective would do. He locks everybody in and questions them one by one.
There are a few suspects to consider. Besides those already mentioned there’s the superstitious housekeeper Olga (Cottin, House of Gucci), PTSD-plagued family doctor Leslie (Dornan, Fifty Shades of Grey), Alicia’s arrogant ex-fiancee Maxime (Allen, The Path) and Hungarian half-siblings Desdemona (Laird, Mayor of Kingstown) and Nicholas (Khan, Red Rose) who serve as Joyce’s assistants and partners-in-crime. Not even the doctor’s bespectacled 12YO son Leopold (Hill, Belfast) is free from suspicion.
A Haunting in Venice is very loosely based on a Christie book called Hallowe’en Party. I’m not familiar with it. It’s never been made into a movie before. It was adapted for the ITV series Agatha Christie’s Poirot (twelfth series), but I never saw it. Because I have nothing to compare it to, that’s probably why I like it better than its two predecessors. It’s not without its flaws. Branagh, once again sporting a moustache that deserves its own credit, still plays Poirot a little too seriously. He’s going through the same existential stuff as before. Although shorter than the other two, there are still some pacing issues. It takes a little while to get to the murder.
What’s good about A Haunting in Venice is how Branagh effectively blends genres. I would describe it as a mystery with elements of horror. That is one creepy house they’re in. It’s dark and drafty. Things go bump in the night. Figures duck in and out of the shadows. A child’s voice can be heard singing. Leopold claims to have seen some strange things. The raging rainstorm outside does nothing to set anybody’s mind at ease. Could it be that the place really is haunted or is there a logical explanation for everything that occurs? Poirot certainly hopes it’s the latter, but he doubts himself a little more with each unexplained occurrence.
The production design by John Paul Kelly is amazing. The palazzo is as immense and daunting a place as the castle Elsinore. It has a palpable sense of doom and gloom. This feeling is augmented by a sparse but haunting score by Hildur Gudnadottir and great camera work by cinematographer Haris Zambarloukos. The whole cast gives it their all. Much to my delight, they look like they’re having fun playing murder suspects in a period-set mystery (1947 to be exact).
I still say Knives Out is the best recent murder mystery, but A Haunting in Venice is right there with it in the top five. It’s a fun and entertaining piece that will keep you on edge and in suspense. I must admit I wasn’t able to positively identify the killer (or killers?) until Branagh chose to reveal it. To be honest, I didn’t even really try. I just wanted to see a good, well-crafted murder mystery. That’s what A Haunting in Venice is. It makes for an enjoyable night at the movies.
