A Haunting in Venice – Film Review
by Frank L.

Writers – Michael Green, Agatha Christie
Stars – Kenneth Branagh, Michelle Yeoh, Jamie Dornan, Tina Fey

This is another adaptation of an Agatha Christie novel directed by Branagh which follows “Death on the Nile” and “Murder on the Orient Express”. Branagh once again plays the role of Hercule Poirot in this loose adaptation of Christie’s 1969 novel Hallowe’en Party which Michael Green has transposed from England to the titular city of Venice.

Poirot is now retired from his career as a detective and is living in Venice. Also in Venice is an old friend Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey) who asks him to help her unmask a medium, Joyce Reynolds (played by recent Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh) as a fraud. A séance is about to take place in a palazzo owned by one Rowena Drake (Kelly Reilly), who hopes to communicate with her deceased daughter Alicia (Rowan Robinson) who drowned in one of the city’s canals. The palazzo, however, is also reputedly haunted by children who died in the plague.

The time is just after World War II. The family doctor to the Drakes is Dr. Leslie Ferrier (Jamie Dornan) but he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder having been one of the first medical personnel to enter Bergen Belsen concentration camp following its liberation. He has a uniquely all-knowing pre-pubescent son (Jude Hill).  Also, in the entourage is the fiance of Alicia; Kyle Allen (Maxime Gerard). During the séance a murder takes place so Poirot is called back once more out of retirement to solve the case.

The palazzo is the ideal backdrop in which to conduct a supernatural séance. Its very fabric gives credence to another time and another place.  There is a beautiful scene with Poirot in a cloakroom where he turns on the taps but no water appears which is not unknown in old buildings with eccentric plumbing systems. However, as he looks in the mirror over the wash hand basin he sees the face of a girl poking her head around the doorway which is behind him but when he turns around there is no one there. The whole scene is unsettling as Branagh utilises unusual camera angles to show the wash hand basin and taps.

So there is a mixture of a mystery play and a story of ghosts. Branagh and Green successfully weld the two together with their talented cast who produce fine performances without being overly stretched. Given the ghostly element, it is somewhat surprising that it is not being released closer to Halloween as it would make ideal viewing material over that long weekend. That said it makes for an enjoyable hour and forty minutes of watching fine actors performing in suitably eerie surroundings.