A Haunting In Venice (2023)

By: Mike Ward on Friday, September 15

PG-13 Running Time: 103 mins

SHOULD I SEE IT?

YES

  • A fun diversion from the world outside, A Haunting in Venice is pure spooky escapism.

  • Happy to report that A Haunting in Venice is the best of Kenneth Branagh’s three Agatha Christie adaptations.

  • Branagh and Tina Fey are a formidable combo - one I never realized we needed.

NO

  • As I waited for the film to give me more details, I have to admit that I identified the evildoer in relatively quick fashion.

  • Though I appreciate the film’s leaning in to supernatural, spooky, haunted house-style vibes, but I wish there was more to the overall story.

  • For all the unique cinematography, beautiful production design, and compelling score by Oscar winner Hildur Guðnadóttir, the film is poorly edited and there will be some who find the whole presentation to be smug and off-putting.


OUR REVIEW

The third film in Kenneth Branagh’s series of Hercule Poirot mysteries, adapted from Agatha Christie’s canon of murderous prose, A Haunting in Venice is a fun little escape into the gothic trappings of the supernatural. 

Loosely adapted from Christie’s 1969 novel “Hallowe’en Party,” and set in Venice, c. 1947, Branagh again stars as the wily, savvy Belgian detective, forced into duty after a self-imposed retirement. Picking up a short time after the conclusion to 2022’s Death on the Nile, Poirot is visited by old friend and mystery writer Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey), who indicates she has crossed paths with a medium (Michelle Yeoh) she cannot debunk. 

Poirot, ever the skeptic, nonetheless agrees to join Ariadne for a dinner party and séance at the rustic Italian estate of opera singer Rowena Drake (Kelly Reilly). Rowena is mourning the recent death of her daughter Alicia (Rowan Robinson), who was herself in mourning after the recent break-up with fiancé Maxime (Kyle Allen). Despondent, Alicia leapt into the canal and now Rowena has invited the medium, and the evening’s dinner guests, to help her communicate with Alicia once again.

Branagh explores nearly every inch of the palazzo, the setting where nearly all of A Haunting in Venice takes place. Through the use of creepy, engaging sound design and off-kilter camera tilts, pans and disorienting angles, Branagh’s longtime cinematographer Haris Zambarloukos attempts to unsettle the viewer, whisking us down hallways and peeking around corners. The rainstorm happening throughout much of the film is ominous and foreboding, and we can feel just how unpleasant these circumstances are for all involved. 

While Fey provides some levity to the gloomy, depressed state of affairs, A Haunting in Venice is ultimately a much more serious affair than the star-studded casts and event-like bombast of Branagh’s previous adaptations. At a crisp, taut 103 minutes, the film moves at a nice, steady gait with Fey and Branagh making quite an intriguing duo. 

As is commonplace with these kinds of films, Michael Green’s screenplay sets the scene, someone dies, and Poirot investigates. And while this does mean the film becomes rather rudimentary in how it moves from one character’s backstory to the next, Branagh punctuates his film with a ghostly aura and often menacing vibe, accentuated wonderfully by Oscar winning composer Hildur Guðnadóttir (The Joker). 

A Haunting in Venice’s more intriguing elements are found when Poirot questions his sanity and wonders if he might be losing his abilities. We simply don’t get enough of this storyline, as every time Poirot begins to wonder about his sensibilities and doubts his efforts, something snaps us (and him) right back into the main story.

Even if character development is largely lumped into one main specific interrogation scene for most of the individual characters, the film is well acted and performed. Jamie Dornan and Jude Hill, who played father and son in Branagh’s Oscar-winning, semi-autobiographical 2021 film Belfast, are reunited here as a codependent father and son, with Hill especially captivating in his performance.   

Akin to a cinematic escape room, A Haunting in Venice stands as the best of Branagh’s trio of recent murder mysteries. Though the film lacks genuine scares, and the mystery is rather simple to solve, having less certainly feels like more this time around in Branagh’s streamlined and efficient ghostly spectacle.

CAST & CREW

Starring: Kenneth Branagh, Tina Fey, Camille Cottin, Kelly Reilly, Riccardo Scamarcio, Jamie Dornan, Jude Hill, Michelle Yeoh, Kyle Allen, Ali Khan, Emma Laird, David Menkin

Director: Kenneth Branagh
Written by: Michael Green
Based on the novel “Hallowe’en Party” by Agatha Christie
Release Date: September 15, 2023
20th Century Studios/Walt Disney Pictures