In the current entertainment landscape, you can’t swing a corpse these days without hitting a murder mystery plot. Call it the Benoit Blanc effect but whodunnits are big business again and have caught our imagination with slippery characters, sinister secrets, and tricksy crimes to solve.
When Rian Johnson first introduced us to Daniel Craig’s southern swaying detective in Knives Out (2019) it reawakened the genre for existing fans and for a new generation to discover the delectable charms of the murder mystery narrative. This was likely also aided by the modern proclivities for true crime stories. Opening the floodgates, it was followed by a host of films and TV shows that leaned into the resurrected zeitgeist. These included the Disney odd throuple hit Only Murders in the Building, the murder mystery mash up styles of The Afterparty and Johnson’s own stellar series Poker Face which featured a new sardonic Columbo for our time in Natasha Lyonne.
But what about the OG? No, I am not talking about Cabot Cove’s infamous mystery writer come sleuth Jessica Fletcher but going back further to the first lady of mystery – Agatha Christie. Her immense body of work has been ripe for big and small screen outings over the years and her most famous Belgium detective Hercule Poirot was reborn in 2017 under the mighty moustache of Kenneth Branagh in Murder on the Orient Express. Whilst Branagh brought the murder mystery back to our screens before Knives Out, it didn’t grab the audience in the same way. Branagh’s first outing as Poirot was a gently entertaining re-tread of a classic tale, the type of film that plays well on a cold evening with a mug of hot chocolate. The familiarity brings a kind of cosy comfort, despite the murderous theme.
The follow-up Death on the Nile (2022) was a less successful installment with the film suffering from one of its main lead’s own personal indiscretions. It appeared to be re-edited to remove as many traces as possible of him onscreen, resulting in a muddled narrative that made little sense to those familiar with the superior Peter Ustinov version. This coupled with some shoddy acting and terrible CGI backdrops, gave the film a detached and disjointed feel and seemed to put a question mark over any future Branagh-based Poirot outings.
But you can’t keep a good detective down so he returns with a new case A Haunting in Venice.
Setting the (murder) scene
Adapting a lesser-known Agatha Christie novel, 1969’s Hallowe’en Party, already feels like a step in a right direction for A Haunting in Venice, removing comparisons and acquaintance with the story. The film picks up after the fallout of Death of the Nile, with Poirot living a life of retirement and finding solace in twice daily pastry deliveries. He is kept shielded from those wanting the help of his detective skills by way of his personal bodyguard and ex-cop Vitale (Riccardo Scamarcio). But his quiet haven bubble is pierced by the arrival of his old friend Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey), a bestselling American mystery writer who manages to persuade Poirot to attend a Halloween party with her.
But the party is just the first course for an after dark séance being held at the palazzo where Ariadne wants Poirot’s help to debunk the seeming gifts of the famous psychic Mrs Reynolds (Michelle Yeoh). The host of the séance and owner of the palazzo is opera singer Rowena Drake (Kelly Reilly) who wants to communicate with her recently deceased daughter, who committed suicide at this eerie abode. But as the endeavour to communicate with the dead unfolds, so does a murder amidst a storm that keeps the guests all stranded together in the dilapidated building.
As is customary with any Christie plot, a disparate group of guests are thrown into the mix, all holding connections, secrets, and motives for the crime. This time those joining the Christie roster include Jamie Dornan’s battle scared war doctor Leslie Ferrier, Rowena’s skittish and spooked housemaid Olga Seminoff (Camille Cottin) and the former fiancé of Rowena’s departed daughter Maxime Gerard (Kyle Allen). Amidst this spooky setting, Poirot must awaken from his self-imposed sleuthing slumber and find the killer that walks amongst them.
Séance it isn’t so
With A Haunting in Venice, Branagh takes his Agatha Christie films in a new direction, going for something more creepily claustrophobic with the confinement of one setting, which produces varying results. There is an element of horror as Poirot appears to lose his grip on what is real and what is not, he begins hearing childlike whispers in the air and sees ghostly figures in the shadows. The famously cynical and logical detective who finds reason behind every action, for the first time seems to suffer a crisis of confidence and reasonable explanations for the events unfolding.
Alongside the tonal change, Branagh’s direction also begins to take on new positions and slants to add to the gothic atmosphere. Low camera angles shoot the palazzo as an imposing, sinister creation, where in other scenes the camera is positioned high and close, looking down on the faces of the characters. There is also an element of expressionist angles where the camera is titled within the frame and one beautifully constructed shot where the shadow of the murder victim becomes one with a statue that looms within the doomed palazzo. The film also benefits from a design that doesn’t rely on fake backgrounds, it feels more tangible and looks much better than previous incarnations.
But with all the positive steps taken forward, there always seem to another misstep or in this case a missed opportunity. Marketed as leaning towards a horror edge, the film doesn’t quite work on this level, its inability to fully commit to going there often leads to moments that feel tacked on. It often feels like a film being one thing and then remembering it’s trying to be another with a hasty shadow or glance towards a ghostly vibe. Those horror aficionados hoping for an early Halloween treat may feel a little short changed.
Spirited performances
As with the tonal disjoints, the film again succeeds with some of its performances and squanders with others. Tina Fey is the most notable standout and a welcome addition to the Poirot-verse, she is a sparky foil to Branagh’s world-weary detective. With a zest for mystery and a knowing wink for when he is reaching his most pompous, she keeps the comic timing on the right side of respect for the source material. One memorable moment occurs when Poirot spouts off one of his intentionally moralistic quotes ‘’ You wake the bear from his sleep, you cannot cry when he tangos’’, to which Fey replies ‘’That’s not a saying in any language’’. Kelly Reilly as the damaged Rowena Drake brings an air of brittle and bruised glamour, tainted with sad eyes and wet lashes. And Jamie Dornan provides a solid effort as the shaky and scarred Doctor, a life seeing atrocities creates a kinship with Poirot who is also forever changed from what he has seen.
But then on the other side of the coin, there is a terrible waste of the talent of Michelle Yeoh, she is relegated to a one-dimensional part with little to do but look mysterious and speak in cryptic riddles to evoke an enigmatic façade. And then there is Branagh himself, who is so successful at home and comfortable in the character now, but this begins to feel at the expense of the rest of the film. Perhaps if he were to relinquish directing duties in a part he has mastered, he could let someone else come to inject their own flair into the franchise. Someone who could build on the new direction created but fully commit to this, rather than coming halfway and then falling back into the snug of comfortability.
Conclusion:
A Haunting in Venice is a curiosity, on one hand, there are positives to take away but it also snatches some of them back. As with its predecessors, there is an element of homey entertainment that it brings, evoking a Sunday afternoon at the cinema air of nostalgic warmth. But there always appears to be a piece of the puzzle missing, a spirited start seems to give way to a clunky, disorderly pace that slows the initial promise and I come away feeling slightly satisfied but also criminally short-changed.
With this new mystery, Branagh has teased a new direction for his Poirot but then backed away from nailing the landing. It feels like a film tentatively dipping its toes into a different route but still with one foot stuck in the mud, unable to fully submerge. His version of the Belgium detective is not quite dead in the water yet but if he is to continue gracing our screens, he needs to find some more magic to rise to the cinematic surface.
A Haunting in Venice was released in the US and UK on September 15, 2023!
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