The actor-director once again takes on the role of Hercule Poirot in a Venetian investigation that is far too theatrical.
After The crime of the Orient Express And Death on the NileKenneth Branagh adapts a short story by Agatha Christie The Halloween Crime (also known as The pumpkin festival) by transposing it into the City of the Doges. Mystery in Venicewhich comes out Wednesday September 6, could have been festive, but is reduced to long dialogue scenes to the detriment of the action.
Theatrical tic
In forced retirement in deserted post-war Venice, Hercules Poirot finds himself drawn to attend a spiritualist session in a palace reputed to be haunted, in order to uncover its deception. During the trance, Poirot interrupts the supernatural manifestations to unmask the plot, while one of the guests is killed. As usual, the detective sequesters all the guests to comb through them, while spectral shadows haunt him.
Kenneth Branagh has a knack for the theater because he comes from it. However, he decided against it in the direction of his first feature film, Henry V (1989) based on Shakespeare, which remains perhaps his best opus. Then trying his hand at genre films, such as thrillers, or even fantasy, he never freed himself from long sections of explanatory dialogue, instead of showing what he describes. Option that repeats in this Mystery in Venice.
The choice is assumed, which allows Branagh to differentiate himself, concerning Agatha Christie, from the adaptations of Sidney Lumet (The crime of the Orient Express1975) and John Guillermin (Death on the Nile,1978). Unfortunately, we lose out. The dramaturgy is based on presentation and not representation, and leans more into psychodrama than suspense. A twist that does not suggest the film’s trailer, very well done, which aligns the bravery pieces edited with a cutter, without a dialogue or almost.
Exotic Camille Cottin
Among the many protagonists, all placed on the same level or almost, Michelle Yeoh stands out. But we are even more surprised to come across Camille Cottin, who brings a touch of exoticism as we did not expect her in the middle of this gentry dressed to the nines. The film benefits precisely from this enigmatic presence, while we detach ourselves from the plot, lost in a superfluous logorrhea.
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The sheet
Gender : Police officer
Director: Kenneth Branagh
Actors: Kenneth Branagh, Kyle Allen, Camille Cottin, Jamie Dornan, Michelle Yeoh, Tina Fey, Jude Hill, Emma Laird
Country : Britain
Duration : 1h43
Exit : September 13, 2023