A Haunting in Venice review: Kenneth Branagh conjures a riveting blend of mystery and horror

Unlike most critics who have been rather meh on Kenneth Branagh’s adaptations of Agatha Christie’s mysteries, I have unironically loved them. For one, they are charmingly old-school. They truly embody the era and do not try to “modernise” the stories — which are, frankly, ageless. (Perhaps not in terms of their politics and gender dynamics, but they do resonate even today in the way they evoke how everyday ordinary-seeming humans end up committing unspeakable atrocities. Christie had a lot to say about the human race, most of it not good shall we say. Still, cynical as she was, and as outlandish as her settings were, her novels rang with truth).

And for another, I do not much care about the fidelity of Branagh’s Hercule Poirot portrayal as many seem to as I was not as interested in the character as I was in the mysteries he was tasked to solve. He is a jolly man with a funny moustache and a funnier accent with a keen insight into the criminal mind. That is all there is to it.

I do not even mind the divergences. I have never been a stickler, so long as the choices work within the framework of the story.

What is A Haunting In Venice all about?

So, A Haunting In Venice is a followup to 2017’s Murder on the Orient Express and 2022’s Death on the Nile and finds Poirot in Venice. Now retired, he has had enough of murderous criminals and does not want to involve himself in any more murder mysteries. He is brought out of retirement by Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey), a successful writer of murder mysteries and a friend. She claims to have attended a seance where things actually happened. Even though she is not a believer in the supernatural, she was struck by what she saw and felt. Initially reluctant, she convinces him to attend another one scheduled on All Hallows’ Eve, better known as Halloween.

The location is an old palazzo owned by one Rowena Drake (Kelly Reilly), a formerly well-known opera performer, whose young daughter Alicia Drake (Rowan Robinson) died after falling from her balcony into the water below before the story starts.

The seances, Rowena claims, are for her to talk to her dear daughter again. They are performed by a woman called Joyce Reynolds, played by Oscar-winner Michelle Yeoh of all people. There are also her assistants Nicholas and Desdemona Holland (Ali Khan and Emma Laird, respectively) the anxiety-ridden family doctor Leslie Ferrier (Jamie Dornan), his son Leopold Ferrier (Jude Hill), the dead girl’s ex-fiancé Maxime Gerard (Kyle Allen), the house help Olga Seminoff (Camille Cottin), and an ex-cop Vitale Portfoglio (Riccardo Scamarcio).

Oh, and it is a stormy night. The stage is set for your typical Christie mystery. But where is the murder? Well, it happens soon enough.

Is A Haunting In Venice any good?

I loved A Haunting In Venice. I will wait for the dust to settle to say for certain, but I believe this is my favourite Branagh-directed Christie movie. It is most well-directed, and written, and I wager though it deviates quite radically from its source material, most fans of the Dame would not mind it. It is true in the spirit of the text if not in literal terms. It is also extremely taut, and at a little over 100 minutes, it feels both substantial and does not overstay its welcome.

The film is also extremely well-shot. We do not see a lot of Venice, but the palazzo (which I believe is a set custom-built for the film). The setting of the film goes a long way in creating a sense of mystery and intrigue within the confines. In this opulent yet foreboding setting, the dark, ornate interiors and labyrinthine hallways provide a rich and atmospheric backdrop to the unfolding mystery, casting an eerie spell over the proceedings. The film’s attention to detail in its setting and production design is simply outstanding, something I did not expect.

As he investigates the crime and questions the colourful cast of characters, Poirot is haunted by an eerie voice, as though of a child. He even gets visions of a girl, her clothes dripping, her skin pale like that of a cadaver. Now, Poirot has always been a man of science so he struggles to come to terms with what his eyes appear to be seeing and ears appear to be listening. The visions and sounds challenge Poirot’s rationality, inviting both him and the audience to question the boundaries between the natural and the supernatural.

Using a stunning yet sparing score by Hildur Guðnadóttir (who won an Oscar for 2019’s Joker) and sound effects, Branagh weaves eerie whispers and ghostly apparitions without explicitly making the film a horror film. I say that not because it does not have the potential to be scary, but because it is not very interested in answering the question as to whether ghosts exist than it is in what humans really are capable of, particularly if they believe they can get away with it. It is a recurring theme in Christie’s works like And Then There Were None that Branagh absolutely nails here.

As the storm rages outside, the tension inside the palazzo tightens like a noose. Branagh skillfully choreographs a dance of secrets, motives, and hidden agendas, leaving the audience mostly in suspense until the final revelation, though I think those well-versed in mystery fiction might guess the culprit before Poirot announces the name. It is still worth it.

A Haunting in Venice works as both a compelling, if a little predictable, mystery, and also as a pretty good horror film.

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