A Haunting in Venice

 

Actor / director Kenneth Branagh's latest Hercule Poirot mystery -- A Haunting in Venice -- is a predictably entertaining picture with those anticipated Agatha Christie twists and misdirections and some added spookiness, presumably an early nod to Halloween.

Poirot (Branagh) has retired to Venice to tend a garden, eat pastries and avoid crowds wanting to contract the famous Belgian detective for some private sleuthing.

It's there he is found by mystery writer Ariadne Oliver (a cheeky Tina Fey), who invites her old friend to attend a seance at a local villa that will be conducted by a celebrated medium, Mrs. Reynolds (Michelle Yeoh), at the request of the villa's owner. Oliver suspects Mrs. Reynolds is a fraud but has not been able to figure out her gimmick. Poirot is, of course, skeptical but agrees to attend, reluctantly.

Stories of a child-killing physican at the villa have given rise to the legend of vengeful spirits murdering residents. The seance is being held to settle some unanswered questions.

Assembled for the seance are the mother (Kelly Reilly) of a young woman (Rowan Robinson) whose dead body was pulled from the canal, presumably a suicide; the girl's former boyfriend (Kyle Allen) and the villa's housekeeper (Camille Cottin). Also present are the battle-scarred doctor who retrieved the girl from the water and his young son, played by Jamie Dornan and Jude Hill, respectively, both of whom starred in Branagh's award-winning Belfast (2021).

Christie fans will no doubt wonder about the suggestion of horror hoo-doo but the story, which feels a bit more contained and claustrophobic than others, stays true to the spirit of the great writer's work and provides some satisfying surprises.