Kenneth Branagh continues his series of adaptations of Agatha Christie’s novels and seems to feel quite comfortable in the skin of Hercule Poirot and in the position of director of the films that bring him to the big screen. The third film in this series is ‘A Haunting in Venice‘, a rather loose adaptation of one of the late novels of the British detective master, ‘Hallowe’en Party’. The book, also mentioned in the movie ‘Belfast’, was one of Branagh‘s mother’s favorite books. Unlike the two previous films in this Poirot series, it is a film that forgoes lavish locations, and the cast – without compromising on quality – is much less rich in first-rate stars. A different film, much more personal and special.
The story is moved from England to post-World War II Venice. The reverberations of war are still felt. Poirot, whose past had begun to be revealed in the previous film, is now retired, living his quiet life and small habits in a Venetian palace and on its roof. He no longer deals with cases, but the cases follow him. When the writer Joyce Reynolds (a kind of alter-ego of Agatha Christie) invites him to participate in a spiritualist session in a haunted building, the detective cannot refuse the invitation to expose the imposture or perhaps to confirm the identity of a famous medium. A storm begins that isolates the semi-ruined palace from the rest of the world, creating the closed setting of Christie’s novels, and the corpses soon show up.
Ghost story buffs and Agatha Christie fans will excuse me, but I wasn’t caught up in the atmosphere at all. Perhaps it was Poirot’s hesitations that prompted me to take his place as a science-backed skeptic. Both the ghost story and the detective story have solutions, it’s up to the viewer to what extent to believe them. The quality of the film lies in the psychology of the characters, and mainly of Poirot. The screenwriter is Michael Green and he, along with director Kenneth Branagh, give actor Kenneth Branagh enough material to expand the human dimensions of the character. The rest of the cast is very well chosen. The most famous names are those of Michelle Yeoh and Tina Fey – acting excellently and with visible pleasure. For the first time in the current series, Branagh is using digital film, which probably makes it easier to create effects, and many of them are spectacular. Even though the detective-ghost plot failed to impress me, I found enough other reasons to enjoy watching ‘A Haunting in Venice‘ and recommend it to others. In the end, Poirot decides to return and take on new cases. This means that there will be new films in this series. I will definitely look for them.