Kenneth Branagh’s third film (starring himself) about private investigator Hercule Poirot, who this time finds himself in eerie postwar Venice on the eve of All Saints’ Day, has been released. Whether this movie can really be called the best in the trilogy, read on in the review.
What the new movie is about
The film takes place about 10 years after the previous installment. The brilliant Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, tired of murder investigations and fame, retires and moves to post-war Venice. Here he lives like a recluse, limiting his communication with anyone except his strict Italian bodyguard Vitale Portoglio, who happily throws anyone who tries to get close to Poirot into the Venetian canals.
One day, however, Poirot is tricked into attending a Halloween party in an old palazzo that is supposedly haunted. Here the detective finds himself at a séance during which the grieving mother, the owner of the house, Rowena Drake, is trying to contact her dead daughter Alicia. However, soon a murder occurs in the palazzo, and Poirot has one night to solve all the mysteries.
How close is the movie to the literary basis?
While the first two films in the series were as close as possible to the originals, this time Branagh went for improvisation (and very successfully, it should be noted). Although the film is based on the late novel by the “queen of mystery” Agatha Christie, A Halloween Party (published 30 years after Death on the Nile), he borrowed only certain details and names. The location was changed, the characters were changed (even if some of them have the same names), the motives were changed… In general, almost everything was changed.
About the director
A native of Northern Ireland, Kenneth Branagh is known to most ordinary viewers primarily as an actor, with roles in such films as The Shawshank Redemption, Dunkirk, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Operation Valkyrie, Oppenheimer, and many other successful blockbusters.
However, it is as a director that he has achieved the greatest recognition. His debut directorial effort, the 1989 film adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Henry V, earned him two Oscar nominations (Best Actor and Best Director) and recognition. Three years later, he received his third Oscar nomination for the short film Swan Song. In 1996, Branagh received his fourth Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay for his own film Hamlet, and in 2012, his fifth in the Best Supporting Actor category for 7 Days and Nights with Marilyn.
Finally, Branagh received his coveted Oscar statuette in 2022 for Best Screenplay for his own film Belfast, partly based on his own childhood memories (he also received nominations for Best Picture and Best Director for this film).
Who’s in the lead roles
The posters of Branagh’s Hercule Poirot films have always been full of big names. For example, Murder on the Orient Express starred Penelope Cruz, Willem Dafoe, Judi Dench, Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Olivia Colman, Daisy Ridley and a number of other stars who were relevant at the time. Meanwhile, Death on the Nile brought together Gal Gadot, Annette Benning, Emma Mackie, Letitia Wright, Rose Leslie and several other top names in its cast.
At the same time, Branagh was constantly lucky to have “toxic” stars in his cast, who were soon after the films’ release kenselized by civilized society. For example, the Ukrainian traitor dancer Serhiy Polunin played in Orient Express, who later “clogged” the portraits of Russian dictator Putin and received a Russian passport (and lost all contracts with Western theaters). The same film also featured Johnny Depp, who was soon banned from Hollywood for several years due to accusations of violence against him by his ex-wife Amber Heard (but was later acquitted).
The same thing happened to Armie Hammer, the lead actor in Death on the Nile, who was accused of all sorts of perversions shortly before the film’s premiere (but in several years, they were never confirmed). In addition, the second film stars the disgraced British comedian Russell Brand, who likes to talk about various conspiracy theories on YouTube, from calling for ignoring anti-covid measures to accusing the United States of being behind the war in Ukraine and justifying Russia. Predictably, Brand was criticized in the West and hounded on Twitter, and only Elon Musk stood up for him, who is also understandable.
However, in the third film, Branagh seems to have managed to assemble a cast with unblemished reputations (hopefully, none of the actors will get into high-profile scandals in the near future).
Thus, apart from Kenneth Branagh himself as Hercule Poirot, the audience did not see any other actor or actress from the previous installments in the third film.
The role of Rowena Drake’s grieving mother was played by British actress Kelly Riley, whom our viewers could see in the second season of the True Detective series and Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes dilogy. The role of Joyce Reynolds’ psychic went to Michelle Yeoh, who won an Oscar this year for her leading role in the movie All Always and At the Same Time. Meanwhile, Tina Fey (Murders in the Same Building) embodied the image of writer Ariadne Oliver, who invited Poirot to the party.
The star of 50 Shades of Grey, Jamie Dornan, played the role of the neurotic doctor Leslie Ferrier, and the young British actor Jude Gill played his son Leopold. By the way, a funny fact: Dornan and Gill have already played father and son in another Branagh film, Belfast.
French actress Camille Cotten played the role of Olga Smirnoff, the Drake family’s housekeeper, and Italian actor Riccardo Scamarcio played Poirot’s bodyguard Vitale Portoglio. Meanwhile, Kyle Allen (Rosalina, American Horror Story: Apocalypse) embodied the image of the former fiancé of the deceased Alicia Drake (played by Rowan Robinson).
Yes, there may not be as many big names in this cast as in the previous films in the series. But all of them are first-class actors who have done a great job with their characters.
Reaction to the movie
The first reviews of the movie are rather positive. Thus, on IMDb, it currently has a score of 6.8 out of 10, while on Rotten Tomatoes, it has received 77% approval from critics (with a “Certified Fresh” rating) and 75% from the general audience. Meanwhile, on Metacritic, film experts gave it a score of 63 out of 100, which corresponds to the characterization of “generally positive reviews.”
It’s worth noting that Branagh’s third Hercule Poirot film was best received by critics, as evidenced by both his scores and reviews (some even called it the best film in the trilogy). In particular, movie reviewers praised the new film for its overall atmosphere, calling it a great Halloween movie, as well as for its direction, script, picture quality and acting.
Our verdict
Well, we agree with the critics: “A Haunting in Venice” can indeed be called the most successful of the three Kenneth Branagh adaptations of Agatha Christie novels. First of all, it’s its gloomy atmosphere that turns the story into a gothic detective story with ghosts, murders and unhappy love. It is complemented by Venetian landscapes, eerie interiors, stylish costumes and a great cast.
Another advantage of the film is that this time Branagh decided not to follow the plot of the original novel. On the one hand, he turned out to be quite an interesting full-fledged independent story, on the other hand, the viewer was finally able to watch the movie without knowing from the very beginning who was involved in what.
Perhaps someone might complain about the excessive theatrics and sometimes predictable plot, but in fact it is quite typical for classic British detectives.
The overall score is 7 out of 10.
Read more: interesting facts about the movie A Haunting in Venice.
