A Haunting in Venice (2023 | USA/UK/Italy | 103 minutes | Kenneth Branagh)
It’s probably not a coincidence that A Haunting in Venice is my favorite of Kenneth Branagh’s three Agatha Christie/Hercule Poirot movies when it was the only one whose book I hadn’t read prior to seeing the film. I think I’m a big Agatha Christie fan who has read most, if not all, of her most well-known novels (and many of her “lesser” ones), but this one wasn’t on my radar at all. Unlike Murder on the Orient Express and A Death on the Nile, Hallowe’en Party, the 1969 Christie novel that serves as the basis for A Haunting in Venice, just doesn’t have the same cultural recognition. All the better for this movie.
Set a decade after A Death on the Nile, Hercule Poirot is enjoying his retirement (he seems to come out of retirement more often than Michael Jordan and George Foreman combined) when he’s visited by crime writer Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey), who credits herself with Poirot’s reputation and popularity. She persuades Poirot to attend a séance on Halloween at a haunted, if run down, mansion, hosted by Rowena Drake (Kelly Reilly) to communicate with her daughter, murdered a year ago. Oliver tells Poirot that she thinks the medium, Joyce Reynolds (Michelle Yeoh) is the real deal and will be the subject of her next book. The séance guests include a handsome doctor (Jamie Dornan), the refugee half-siblings that assist Mrs. Reynolds and dream of ending up in (checks notes) Missouri (Emma Laird and Ali Khan), the precocious son of the doctor (Jude Hill).
Much like whenever Jessica Fletcher gets invited to a dinner party, every time Hercule Poirot goes on vacation or somewhere exotic, someone dies. In this case, it’s Joyce Reynolds. She dies around the same time someone also tries to kill Poirot in a bobbing-for-apples incident. The lesson Machiavelli told us in 1513 stays true: “the injury that is to be done to a man ought to be of such a kind that one does not stand in fear of revenge.” Hercule Poirot is likely to solve any murder placed before him, but he’s certain to solve his own attempted murder.
When Joyce Reynolds is found dead, Poirot quickly locks down the mansion to keep anyone from getting out, until he solves the murder(s). He’s lacking the same credulity Ariadne Oliver shows to Joyce Reynolds and won’t accept a spiritual or mystical explanation. Watching the precision and observation Poirot shows in solving crimes is one of my great joys in pop culture and here is no exception. The atmosphere of this run-down mansion is great. The mood inside and weather outside (this Seattleite has never seen so much rain) plus the focus eyes of Poirot give this set a wonderful sense of claustrophobia.
Kenneth Branagh is clearly having a blast playing Hercule Poirot and his impressive mustache. With Branagh’s Poirot movies and Rian Johnson’s Knives Out movies and his “Poker Face” series, there’s been something of a resurgence of whodunits, and I’m thrilled by it.
I hope we get several more Poirot movies from Kenneth Branagh. I don’t think he’s the best actor to ever portray Hercule Poirot (John Malkovich is) but he seems to be enjoying himself and so is the cast, and so is the audience.
A Haunting in Venice is in wide-release in theaters now.
This piece was written during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. Without the labor of the actors currently on strike, the film being covered here wouldn’t exist. More information about the strikes can be found on the SAG-AFTRA Strike hubs. Donations to support striking workers can be made at the Entertainment Community Fund.