A Haunting in Venice: Branagh's latest Christie Fix is a Fusty and Familiar Sleuth-Fest
By Chris Knight
Rating: B-minus
I’ve cracked this case. Kenneth Branagh did it.
He had the means. A famed film actor/director/producer, he wore all three hats - plus a fake moustache! - for this one.
He had the motive. His first Agatha Christie adaptation, Murder on the Orient Express (2017), did well in theatres, with much of the lackluster box office for the second, 2022’s Death on the Nile, blamed on the offscreen antics of star Armie Hammer, and also on COVID.
Kenneth Branagh as Poirot, once more into the murderous breach.
And he had the opportunity. In fact, much of Branagh’s artistic output has felt a tad opportunistic. A devotee of Shakespeare, he spent much of the ’90s and early 2000s working his way through the Bard’s oeuvre, even playing the man in 2018’s All Is True.
A fan of Christopher Nolan, he’s appeared in three of that director’s titles, including Oppenheimer. Now he’s bringing his love of Agatha Christie once more to the screen.
It’s an odd choice for this harried century. Christie’s work has always had an air of fustiness about it, and A Haunting in Venice is no exception. Set in the Italian city two years after the end of the Second World War, it opens with Belgian detective Hercule Poirot (Branagh) dragged out of retirement by American mystery writer Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey), who is intent on either debunking or confirming the work of a psychic (Michelle Yeoh).
Yeoh’s client is a wealthy woman (Kelly Reilly) whose daughter jumped (or was pushed) from a window to drown in the canal below. In addition to the psychic, Poirot finds no end of suspects, including the gold-digging fiancé (Kyle Allen), the shellshocked family doctor (Jamie Dornan) and that man’s son (Jude Hill), whose formal wardrobe, sombre demeanour and young-Haley-Joel-Osment looks all but confirm that yes, he does see dead people.
Complicating the investigation but adding to the atmosphere are the fact that it’s All Hallows’ Eve, and that a massive storm has made the canals all but impassible. When a second body appears in their midst - and then a third - the guests have no choice but to shelter in place while Poirot investigates and interrogates and pontificates. Will he solve the case of the dead heiress, or will this be the end of Hercule Poirot?
Don’t count out the Belgian detective, especially since Branagh has barely scratched Christie’s output. There have been some 50 film adaptations to date, stretching all the way back to 1928, so the director and star has plenty of ground left to tread, or retread.
At the risk of waxing tautological, A Haunting in Venice will appeal most to people who like this sort of thing. But I was most struck by a line early in the film, when Poirot tells his friend Ariadne that he’s satisfied in his retirement, and she corrects him: “That’s not satisfaction. It’s happiness. There’s a difference.”
There is indeed. Poirot’s latest adventure may engender some brief happiness in audiences, but I’m not sure it will leave them fully satisfied.
A Haunting in Venice. Directed by Kenneth Branagh. Starring Kenneth Branagh, Tina Fey, and Michelle Yeoh. Opens in theatres Friday, September 15.