It is a universal truth that the definitive portrayal of Hercule Poirot was by David Suchet in the television adaptations, so why do we keep turning out for the fruity Kenneth Branagh version of the world’s most famous Belgian?
The interesting thing is that each new offering by Branagh is, sort of, getting better.
He has certainly picked up the pace, which after the sluggish Murder on the Orient Express is a welcome relief.
Here, we are in 1947 Venice, still suffering from the aftermath of WW2 and a gloomy place for the world’s most famous detective to retire to.
Poirot is holed up refusing to see anyone until Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey) turns up with an invitation to a seance.
A Haunting in Venice (Rialto, Metro and Reading) gives us a grieving mother, Rowena Drake (Kelly Reilly), who has summoned a renowned medium, Mrs Reynolds (Michelle Yeoh), to her creepy palazzo to try to contact the spirit of her dead daughter.
Various suspicious characters have gathered, including the dead woman’s ex-fiancé Alessandro (Amir El-Masry) and her ineffectual doctor (Jamie Dornan), so everything is primed for a rapid pile up of dead bodies.
Is it the spirits of the children who were walled up to die during the Black Death taking their revenge? or yet another murderer who thinks they can outwit Hercule Poirot?
Well, you do not have to waste any time pondering that one, but we get some rather nice atmospheric scenes, some tart analysis of Poirot’s character and a few laughs — so largely a win.
A HAUNTING IN VENICE
Director: Kenneth Branagh
Cast: Kenneth Branagh, Michelle Yeoh, Jamie Dornan, Tina Fey, Dylan Corbett-Bader, Amir El-Masry, Riccardo Scomarcio,
Fernando Piloni, Camille Cottin, Kelly Reilly
Rating: (M) ★★★
