Screens/Movies

Where: In theatres
What: Movie, 100 mins.
When: Now
Genre: Mystery
Rating: NNNN (out of 5)
Why you should watch: What initially seems like a deceptively “quaint” tale proves to be complex and compelling with all the propulsive energy of a riveting whodunit, powered by a magnificent cast.

Set in a working-class community in a seaside British town after the First World War, The Crown’s Olivia Colman — she played the Queen from 2019 through 2023 — is perfect as Edith Swan, a seemingly profoundly innocent, dour Church-going spinster who lives with her parents in a tiny flat. The film opens with Edith and her family examining the latest of a series of poison pen letters Edith regularly receives that contain an astounding amount of profanity and accusations.

Very quickly, Edith’s Irish neighbour — a quirky, scandalous, younger, single mother — Rose Gooding (Jessie Buckley) is tabbed as the main suspect and is launched into the British justice system taking the film to a darker place and Gooding eventually to jail.

There isn’t a weak performance from a compelling cast that includes Edith’s icily controlling father, Edward Swan (Timothy Spall), and female police officer Gladys Moss (Anjana Vasan), whose gender is a constant source of controversy and who eventually comes to the imprisoned Gooding’s aid.

Like the town in the film, Wicked Little Letters is filled with secrets and littered with unspoken rules and assumptions that give actions momentum of their own. While the title might suggest a small, quirky film, Wicked Little Letters is, in fact, a big story told with massive performances.