The Little Grey Cells Confront some dark shadows in A Haunting In Venice

Hercule Poirot, the man who can solve a murder with a stray shoelace and a misplaced button, faces his most perplexing case yet – a rendezvous with the supernatural in the canals of Venice. Does A Haunting in Venice manage to blend classic Christie charm with gothic chills, or is it all a gondola ride to nowhere? At least his trademark moustache is back in place after its unexpectedly close shave at the end of the previous instalment.

In post-World War II Venice, the cloistered Poirot (Kenneth Branagh) finds himself reluctantly drawn into a séance at a decaying palazzo. Hosted by the enigmatic Rowena Drake (Kelly Reilly) and conducted by the psychic Mrs. Reynolds (Michelle Yeoh), the séance is intended to contact Rowena’s deceased daughter. However, when a guest is murdered, Poirot is compelled to uncover the truth amidst a sea of shadows and secrets. Joining him is crime writer Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey), whose sharp wit provides both assistance and amusement. Initially, her visit seems motivated by a desire to lure Poirot out of his self-imposed isolation as she excitedly presents him with a new case that promises to be unlike anything he’s encountered before. However, as the mystery unfolds, it becomes clear that her motives might not be entirely altruistic, adding another layer of intrigue to the already tangled game of shadows.

A Haunting In Venice benefits immensely from its breathtaking Venetian backdrop. While the action takes place mostly indoors in a gloomy gothic villa, glimpses of the city’s canals and historic architecture add a layer of grandeur. Director Kenneth Branagh uses dramatic lighting and camera angles to create a suspenseful atmosphere, making you wonder what evil lurks in the shadows of the decaying palazzo. Branagh’s direction employs fish-eye lenses, Dutch angles, and deep-focus shots that pay homage to classic film noir and gothic horror although his overindulgence in the use of Dutch angles throughout the film might leave some viewers feeling a touch seasick or wondering if the budget couldn’t quite stretch to camera equipment without faulty gimbals. Maybe Branagh himself just has a penchant for the dramatically off-kilter, taking Poirot’s own inner sense of imbalance and rendering our view askew in sympathy.

It’s a bold stylistic choice to take Christie’s genteel and fastidious detective and envelope him in the dark embrace of a grand gothic tone and more than any other adaptions, A Haunting In Venice takes decided liberties with its source material. Agatha Christie’s original novel, Hallowe’en Party, is a far cry from the brooding phantasmagorical Venetian palazzo of the film. Unlike the televised adaptation starring David Suchet, which stayed true to the novel’s setting in a cozy English country house, A Haunting In Venice takes the core mystery of the novel and wraps it within a conspiracy inside a riddle, wrapped in an enigma and draped with the veil of the supernatural. While this scale of departure might surprise fans of the source material, it does at least have the virtue of rendering the familiar once more mysterious.

Poirot’s usual quirkiness is subdued by the darker mood of the piece, a noticeable shift from Christie’s portrayal of the detective, known for his theatricality and dry wit. Here, Branagh offers a more brooding, darkly introspective Poirot, grappling with his own mortality and the impossibility of the supernatural. This portrayal might surprise some fans expecting more of the Poirot from Murder on the Orient Express, but there’s an interdependence between Poirot’s mood and the film it inhabits. Is Poirot gloomy because of the macabre atmosphere or is the atmosphere sombre because Poirot perceives the world that way? It’s a fascinating thematic symbiosis that resolves itself at the conclusion of the mystery leading to a personal epiphany and renaissance for Poirot.

Visually, A Haunting In Venice is a welcome return to form for Branagh’s Christie adaptations. After the CGI excesses of Death on the Nile, this film embraces the beauty of physical sets and location filming. The grandeur of Venice and the claustrophobic dread of the palazzo are meticulously brought to life, creating a far more immersive experience. While it lacks the light-hearted verve of Murder on the Orient Express it offers a more grounded and visually striking experience.

With one foot in the material and the other in the spirit world, A Haunting In Venice doesn’t quite make a success of either. It’s slightly too timid to embrace the horror it flirts so coquettishly with and by the time it turns its attention to the very earthbound crimes they feel a little underwhelming after the siren song of the supernatural. Still, it’s a handsomely staged, lavishly cast and wonderfully performed whodunnit that takes the darkness that lurks in the human heart and spreading its shade across the floating city.

A Haunting In Venice Review
Score 6/10
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