Review: Kenneth Branagh Tackles The Varied And Evolving World Of Agatha Christie; Metascore 63

https://deadline.com/2023/09/a-haunting-in-venice-review-kenneth-branagh-tackles-world-of-agatha-christie-1235530623/

In Venice 1947, Hercule Periot (Branaugh) is retired and no longer a detective, but Adriane (Fey), a mystery novel writer looking for her next hit story, convinces him to accompany her to a seance to find out if the medium chosen for the event is a liar. What they find is that this home is the location of a tragedy. The current owner of the Palazzo, Rowena (Reilly), an opera singer, has contacted a medium Ms Reynolds (Yeoh) to connect with a relative who died there.

There is tension in the air, as weird things begin to happen like falling chimneys, and doors blowing open, but it isn’t enough to convince everyone that there are ghosts there. Ms. Reynolds makes contact with other spirits in the home. She does make contact with someone who was murdered in the house but before anyone can find out what happened to her, the medium awakes from the trance. Now that this has gone from the supernatural to a murder mystery, Periot’s interest is peaked as he aims to get to the answers Ms. Reynold couldn’t.

A Haunting in Venice seems to have captured the essence of what makes Agatha Christie’s works timeless. By scaling down and focusing on the smaller elements of both the plot and the characters, Branagh and his team have delivered a film that is both an homage to Christie and a film that far exceeds the first two.