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"A Haunting in Venice" is the best of Kenneth Branagh's Hercule Poirot movies. It's also one of Branagh's best, period, thanks to the way Branagh and screenwriter Michael Green dismantle and reinvent the source material (Agatha Christie's Hallowe'en Party ) to create a relentlessly clever, visually dense "old" movie that uses the latest technology.

Set mainly in a palazzo that seems as immense as Xanadu or Castle Elsinore (it's a blend of actual Venice locations, London soundstages, and visual effects), the movie is threaded with intimations of supernatural activity, most of the action occurs during a tremendous thunderstorm, and the violence pushes the PG-13 rating to its breaking point. It's fun with a dark streak: imagine a ghastly gothic cousin of " Clue ," or of something like Branagh's own " Dead Again ," which revolved around past lives. At the same time, amid the expected twists and gruesome murders, "A Haunting in Venice" is an empathetic portrayal of the death-haunted mentality of people from Branagh's parents' generation who came through World War II with psychic scars, wondering what had been won.

The original Christie novel was published in 1969 and set in then-present-day Woodleigh Common, England. The adaptation transplants the story to Venice, sets it over 20 years earlier, gives it an international cast of characters thick with British expats, and retains just a few elements, including the violent death of a young girl in the recent past and the insinuating presence of an Agatha Christie-like crime novelist named Ariadne Oliver ( Tina Fey ), who takes credit for creating Poirot's reputation by making him a character in her writing. Aridane tracks down Poirot in a Venice apartment, where he's retired from detective work and seemingly in existential crisis (though one he'd never discuss without being asked). He seems resolved to a life of aloneness, which is not the same as loneliness. He tells Ariadne he doesn't have friends and doesn't need any.

Ariadne's sales have slumped, so she draws Poirot back into sleuthing by pushing him to attend a Halloween Night seance at the aforementioned home, hoping to produce material that will give her another hit. The medium is a celebrity in her own right: Joyce Reynolds ( Michelle Yeoh ), a character named after the untrustworthy little girl in the original Christie story who claims to have witnessed a murder. Reynolds plans to communicate with a murder victim, Alicia Drake ( Rowan Robinson ), the teenage daughter of the palazzo's owner, former opera singer Rowena Drake ( Kelly Reilly ), and hopefully learn who did the deed.

There are, of course, many others gathered in the palazzo. All become suspects in Alicia's murder as well as the subsequent cover-up killings that ensue in these kinds of stories. Poirot locks himself and the rest of the ensemble in the palazzo and announces that no one can leave until he's figured things out. The gallery of possibles includes a wartime surgeon named Leslie Ferrier ( Jamie Dornan ) who suffers from severe PTSD; Ferrier's precocious son Leopold ( Jude Hill , the young lead in Branagh's " Belfast "), who is 12 going on 40 and asks unnerving questions; Rowena’s housekeeper Olga Seminoff ( Camille Cottin ); Maxime Gerard ( Kyle Allen ), Alicia’s former boyfriend; and Mrs. Reynolds’ assistants Desdemona and Nicholas Holland ( Emma Laird and Ali Khan ), war refugees who are half-siblings.

It would be unsporting to say much about the rest of the plot. Reading the book won't give anything important away because—even more so than in Branagh's previous Poirot films—the kinship between source and adaptation is a bit like the later James Bond films, which might take a title, some character names and locations, and one or two ideas, and invent everything else. Green, who also wrote the recent " Death on the Nile " as well as " Blade Runner 2049 " and much of the series "American Gods," is a reliably excellent screenwriter of fresh stories inspired by canonical material. His work keeps one eye on commerce and the other on art. He regularly reminds nostalgia-motivated viewers in the "intellectual property" era of why they like something. At the same time, he introduces provocative new elements and attempts a different tone or focus than audiences probably expected. (The introduction to the movie tie-in paperback of Christie's novel has an introduction by Green that starts with him confessing to a murder of "the book you are holding.")

Accordingly, this Poirot mystery aligns itself with popular culture made in Allied countries after World War II. Classic post-war English-language films like " The Best Years of Our Lives ," " The Third Man ," "The Fallen Idol," and mid-career Welles films like " Touch of Evil " and "The Trial" (to name just a few classics that Branagh seems keenly aware of) were not just engrossing, beautifully crafted entertainments, but illustrations of a pervasive collective feeling of moral exhaustion and soiled idealism—the result of living through a six-year period that showcased previously unimaginable horrors, including Stalingrad, Normandy, the mechanized extermination of the Holocaust, and the use of atomic bombs against civilians. And so the embittered Poirot is a seeming atheist who practically sneers at speaking to the dead. Green and Branagh even give him a monologue about his disillusionment that evokes comments made about Christie near the end of her life, and in the novel, about what she perceived as increasingly cruel tendencies in humanity as a whole, reflected in the sorts of crimes that were being committed.

Aside from a few period-specific details and references, the source seems to exist outside of the time in which it was written. Branagh and Green's movie goes in the opposite direction. It's very much of the late 1940s. The children in the film are orphans of war and post-war occupation (soldiers fathered some of them, then went back home without taking responsibility for their actions). There's talk of "battle fatigue," which is what PTSD was called during World War II; in the previous world war, they called it "shell shock." The plot hinges on the economic desperation of native citizens, previously moneyed expatriates who are too emotionally and often financially shattered to recapture the way of life they had before the war, and the mostly Eastern European refugees who didn't have much to start with and do the country's grunt work. The overriding sense is that some of these characters would literally kill to get back to being what they were.

Branagh was compared to Orson Welles early in his career for obvious reasons. He was a wunderkind talent who became internationally famous in his twenties and often starred in projects he originated and oversaw. He had one foot in theater and the other in film. He loved the classics (Shakespeare especially) and popular film genres (including musicals and horror). He had an impresario's sense of showmanship and the ego to go with it. He's never been more brazenly Wellesian than he is here. This film has a "big" feeling, as Welles' films always did, even when they were made for pocket change. But it's not full of itself, wasteful or pokey; like a Welles film, it gets in and out of every scene as fast as possible, and clocks in at 107 minutes, including credits.

Film history aficionados may appreciate the many visual acknowledgments of the master's filmography, including ominous views of Venice that reference Welles' "Othello" and a screeching cockatoo straight out of " Citizen Kane ." At times, it feels as if Branagh conducted a seance and channeled Welles' spirit, as well as that of other directors who worked in a black-and-white, expressionistic, Gothic-flavored, very Wellesian style (including "The Third Man" director Carol Reed and "The Manchurian Candidate" and "Seven Days in May" director John Frankenheimer ). Branagh and cinematographer Haris Zambarloukos have also mentioned Richard Brooks's 1967 adaptation of " In Cold Blood " and Masaki Kobayashi's "Kwaidan" as influences. The movie deploys fish-eye lenses, dutch tilts, hilariously ominous close-ups of significant objects (including a creepy cuckoo clock), extreme low- and high-angles, and deep-focus compositions that arrange the actors from foreground to deep background, with window and door frames, sections of furniture, and sometimes actors' bodies dicing up the shot to create additional frames-within-the-frame.

Like post-millennial Michael Mann and Steven Soderbergh movies, "A Haunting in Venice" was shot digitally (albeit in IMAX resolution) and lets the medium be what it naturally is. The low-light interior scenes make no attempt to simulate film stock, depriving viewers of that "comfort food" feeling that comes from seeing a movie set in the past that uses actual film or tries for a "film look." The result is unbalancing, in a fascinating way. The images have a mesmerizing hyper-clarity and a shimmering, otherworldly aspect. In tight close-ups of actors, their eyes seem to have been lit from within.

Branagh and editor Lucy Donaldson time the cuts so that the more ostentatious images (such as a rat crawling out of a stone gargoyle's mouth, and Poirot and Ariadne seen through the metal screen of a fireplace, flames in the foreground) are on-screen just long enough for the viewer to register what they see, and laugh at how far the movie is willing to go for the effect. Movies are rarely directed in this style anymore, in any format, and it's a shame, because when they are, the too-muchness can be intoxicating.

Available in theaters on September 15th.

Matt Zoller Seitz

Matt Zoller Seitz is the Editor at Large of RogerEbert.com, TV critic for New York Magazine and Vulture.com, and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism.

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A Haunting in Venice (2023)

Rated PG-13 for some strong violence, disturbing images and thematic elements.

104 minutes

Kenneth Branagh as Hercule Poirot

Kyle Allen as Maxime Gerard

Camille Cottin as Olga Seminoff

Jamie Dornan as Dr Leslie Ferrier

Tina Fey as Ariadne Oliver

Jude Hill as Leopold Ferrier

Ali Khan as Nicholas Holland

Emma Laird as Desdemona Holland

Kelly Reilly as Rowena Drake

Michelle Yeoh as Joyce Reynolds

Dylan Corbett-Bader as Baker

Amir El-Masry as Alessandro Longo

Fernando Piloni as Vincenzo Di Stefano

Kenneth Branagh

Writer (based upon the novel "Hallowe'en Party" by)

Agatha Christie
Michael Green

Cinematographer

Haris Zambarloukos
Lucy Donaldson
Hildur Guðnadóttir

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‘A Haunting in Venice’ Review: A Whodunit With a Splash of Horror

Kenneth Branagh directs and stars in this adaptation of a ghostly mystery from Agatha Christie, with assists from Michelle Yeoh and Tina Fey.

in a film still, a man with a bushy curled mustache is seen in front of a shadowed cross against a red backdrop.

By Jason Zinoman

What genre does “A Haunting in Venice” belong to?

Twirl a mustache and join me on the case. Our first clue is that Kenneth Branagh is playing Hercule Poirot in his third adaptation of an Agatha Christie story. So, this would appear to be an open-and-shut case. Add a murder in a spooky house peopled by suspects, and you have all the hallmarks of a classic locked-room mystery. But Christie fans will quickly deduce that the screenwriter Michael Green has departed considerably from “Hallowe’en Party,” the original source material from 1969, one of her later, lesser books, adding elements that move into the realm of supernatural horror. Be on guard for misdirection.

A glum Poirot, retired from solving cases, has been invited to attend a séance where a famous opera singer, Rowena Drake (Kelly Reilly), wants to contact her dead daughter. The medium (or fraud?) is played with brio by Michelle Yeoh, and her psychic powers present a challenge to the stony rationality of the aging detective. Unlike his relatively faithful, innocuously entertaining versions of “ Murder on the Orient Express ” and “ Death on the Nile ,” Branagh is pushing into ghostly new territory, leaning on scary-movie tropes such as scurrying rats, jump scares and that old standby, a face popping up in the mirror.

It’s a bit gloomy as a mystery, but perfunctory as horror. Too talky, for one thing. Branagh, who dabbled in gothic terror early in his career when he made “Frankenstein,” has more of a feel for actorly grand guignol than the pace of cinematic-scare sequences. Just when you are about to return to the whodunit, there’s an invigorating twist, spurred largely by the presence of Tina Fey, who, between this movie and her wryly satirical flourishes as an opportunistic podcaster in the series “Only Murders in the Building,” is getting awfully skilled at playing a potential killer. Fey here embodies the sharp-tongued Ariadne Oliver, a mystery author with a screwball cadence, touchy about her critical reception.

Fey introduces a comedic energy into the movie, talking out of the side of her mouth while accompanying Poirot. She adds some much-needed fizzy carbonation to the stiff drink of mystery solving. Branagh wants to tell a story of a shaken, brooding Poirot struggling with decline, but luckily, camp humor intrudes. When he aims his preposterous accent at the French actress Camille Cottin, who plays a housekeeper, it makes you think a good time was had on set.

In straddling genres, “Haunting” can get stuck in the middle. But there’s fun to be had there. What’s consistent is the elegant visuals — striking cinematography by Haris Zambarloukos — which mark this movie’s real genre as lavish old-fashioned Hollywood entertainment. Canted views of surprising corners of the house alternate with postcard-stunning shots of rainy Venetian nights. But the dominant images are close-ups of movie stars, including long, lingering glances at Branagh, whose whispery gravitas provides good, if melancholy, company and occasional wit.

In the original book, Poirot ponders the subject of beauty. He sounds skeptical and a bit insecure. “There was only one thing about his own appearance which really pleased Hercule Poirot,” Christie writes, “and that was the profusion of his mustache.”

Branagh remained entirely faithful on this trait. But he couldn’t help but add a soul patch.

A Haunting in Venice Rated PG-13 for dangerous apple-bobbing and death by impalement. Running time: 1 hour 43 minutes. In theaters.

An earlier version of this article misspelled the surname of the French actress in “A Haunting in Venice.” Her name is Camille Cottin, not Cotton.

How we handle corrections

Jason Zinoman is a critic at large for The Times. As the paper’s first comedy critic, he has written the On Comedy column since 2011. More about Jason Zinoman

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The big twist in 'A Haunting in Venice'? It's actually a great film

Justin Chang

Tina Fey and Michelle Yeoh join Kenneth Branagh in A Haunting in Venice. Walt Disney Co./Courtesy Everett Collection hide caption

Tina Fey and Michelle Yeoh join Kenneth Branagh in A Haunting in Venice.

You can always count on Agatha Christie for a surprise, and the big twist in A Haunting in Venice is that it's actually a pretty terrific movie.

I say this as a die-hard Christie fan who didn't much care for Kenneth Branagh 's earlier adaptations of Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile. Charming as he was in the role of Hercule Poirot, the movies themselves felt like lavish but superfluous retreads of two of the author's best-known classics.

One of the lessons of A Haunting in Venice is that sometimes, it's a good idea to go with weaker source material. Christie's 1969 novel Hallowe'en Party is one of her thinner whodunits, and Branagh and his screenwriter, Michael Green, have smartly overhauled the story, which is now set in 1947 Venice. They've also gleefully embraced the Halloween theme, taking the cozy conventions of the detective story and pushing them in the direction of a full-blown haunted-house thriller.

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'murder on the orient express' and cozy murder mysteries.

OK, so the result isn't exactly Don't Look Now , the most richly atmospheric horror movie ever shot in Venice. But Branagh and his collaborators, especially the cinematographer Haris Zambarloukos and the production designer John Paul Kelly, have clearly fallen under the spell of one of the world's most beautiful and cinematically striking cities. While there are the expectedly scenic shots of gondolas and canals at sunset, most of the action takes place after dark at a magnificent palazzo owned by a famed opera singer, played by Kelly Reilly.

She's hosting a lavish Halloween party, where Poirot is one of the guests, tagging along with his longtime American friend, Ariadne Oliver, a popular mystery novelist played with snappy wit by Tina Fey . Also in attendance are Jamie Dornan as a troubled doctor and an entrancing Michelle Yeoh as a medium, known as "the unholy Mrs. Reynolds," who says she can speak to the dead.

Case Closed: Agatha Christie's Detective Poirot Solves His Last TV Mystery

Mrs. Reynolds performs a séance, hoping to contact the spirit of the opera singer's daughter, who died under mysterious circumstances at the palazzo a year earlier. Soon another death will take place: One of the party guests turns up murdered, and while Poirot is officially retired, he decides to take on the case. He even asks his mystery-writer friend, Miss Oliver, to help him interview suspects, though not before first questioning her about her whereabouts at the time of the killing.

As Poirot, Branagh is clearly having so much fun wearing that enormous mustache and speaking in that droll French accent that it's been hard not to enjoy his company, even when the movies have been lackluster. For once, though, the case he's investigating is just as pleasurable to get lost in.

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2 books investigate the mysteries of agatha christie and the golden state killer.

It's an unusually spooky story: The palazzo, we find out early on, is rumored to be haunted by the vengeful ghosts of children who died there years ago during an outbreak of the plague. Branagh piles on the freaky visuals and jolting sound effects, to the point where even a supreme skeptic like Poirot begins to question what's going on. These horror elements may be unabashedly creaky and derivative, but they work because the movie embraces them to the hilt.

A Haunting in Venice sometimes feels closer to the work of Christie's undersung contemporary John Dickson Carr, whose brilliant detective stories often flirted with the possibility of the supernatural. That said, the actual solution to the mystery, while clever enough, isn't especially ingenious or complicated.

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What gives the story its deeper resonance is its potent sense of time and place. It's just two years after the end of World War II, and many of the suspects have witnessed unspeakable horrors. The medium, Mrs. Reynolds, was a nurse during the war, which may account for why she feels such an affinity for the dead. Everyone, from the grieving opera singer to the doctor traumatized by his memories, seems to be mourning some kind of loss.

In Branagh's retelling, Poirot is himself a World War I veteran. One of the reasons he's such a staunch atheist is that he's seen too much cruelty and suffering to believe that God exists. He doesn't exactly change his mind by the end of A Haunting in Venice . But it's a testament to this movie's poignancy that Poirot emerges from his retirement with a renewed belief that he can still do some good in the world. He's eagerly looking forward to his next case, and so, to my delight, am I.

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A Haunting in Venice Reviews

It's just as well Branagh changed the title, because — location switch aside — there's almost nothing here that recalls the original story aside from Poirot, some of the other characters' names, and the presence of an apple bobbing tub.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Jan 25, 2024

I love all three of Branagh's Poirot films for this thread of a broken man exploited and celebrated but desperate for a human connection to ground him in the world of the living...

Full Review | Jan 4, 2024

Enjoyably melodramatic and nicely unnerving, though the tendency to shoot from above and at odd angles becomes headache-inducing, especially when one is trying to work out whodunnit (or indeed woohoodunnit). Camille Cottin and Emma Laird are stand-outs.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jan 1, 2024

A likable, "good enough" mix of mystery and supernatural thriller.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Dec 27, 2023

For his second act - the best and most colorful - Branagh manages to sustain his film with tricks of the horror genre as old as they are elementary. But in this nightmarish Venice, they are beautiful and elegant. [Full Review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Dec 24, 2023

Reynolds leads Poirot to a Halloween party in a decaying and haunted palazzo, which provides the perfect backdrop for a spooky, jump-filled series of incidents.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Dec 8, 2023

Taut and effective.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Dec 4, 2023

Branagh’s confidence in direction is strong as ever with a narrative half-predicated on thoughtful sound design that equally hinges on his performance, the use of depth in frame draws the eye to clues and behavior while setting the mood

Full Review | Original Score: 74/100 | Nov 19, 2023

As a review, this film feels like a detective film from days past, younger audiences might want more, but those who enjoy a slow reveal will have a good time. It gets a B grade from me.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Nov 13, 2023

It’s not the same kind of reliable guilty pleasure we expect these vehicles to be [...] but this outing of Branagh’s Poirot is at least an interesting experiment in expanding these stories' usual limits.

Full Review | Nov 4, 2023

Stunningly cinematically accomplished that it is, this whirlwind spectacle comes out short in the one thing that matters most in a mystery – the story itself. [...] Feels like a hollowed-out pumpkin, minus the candlelight.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 3, 2023

Branagh’s third outing as Poirot is the charm... playing in the what-if gray area opens up options for some great visuals, startling reactions, and cranking up the spooky factor.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Nov 2, 2023

In Branagh’s relatively prolific corner of the playground, the real mystery continues to be how Poirot maintains that motherf—er on his face.

Full Review | Nov 1, 2023

The secret ingredient has been none other than adapting Agatha Christie through the lens of gothic horror; a subtle twist that instantly turns the fantastic 'Mystery in Venice' into the most stimulating and enjoyable installment of the trilogy.

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Oct 31, 2023

Hercule Poirot is back in this mildly entertaining whodunit with supernatural touches. [Full Review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Oct 28, 2023

The film resonates with qualities found in classics of the genre by Alfred Hitchcock and Orson Welles, and is simultaneously reminiscent in its aggressive theatrical approach to Branagh’s own neo-noir thriller “Dead Again” from 1991.

Full Review | Oct 26, 2023

A Haunting in Venice elevates well-worn genre tropes with exceptional casting and filmmaking flair to create a satisfying experience.

Full Review | Oct 25, 2023

A Haunting in Venice isn't quite the best of Kenneth Branagh's Hercule Poirot films, but it's still an inspired effort.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Oct 25, 2023

After too many coincidences, Poirot is required to name the killer. Alas, his panache has undergone some wear and tear. Is here anything worse than a gloomy Hercule? He's still a man who needs to think rationally. Solving mysteries is his Belgian waffle.

Full Review | Oct 21, 2023

Director and star Kenneth Branagh’s third outing as Agatha Christie’s brilliant and persnickety detective is his most satisfying turn yet. ... briskly entertaining Agatha Christie comfort food with a larger theme about the secrets we carry.

Full Review | Oct 13, 2023

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A Haunting in Venice review: Kenneth Branagh scares up his best Poirot film yet

Branagh portrays Agatha Christie's favorite detective for the third time in this supernatural thriller.

Maureen Lee Lenker is a senior writer at Entertainment Weekly with over seven years of experience in the entertainment industry. An award-winning journalist, she's written for Turner Classic Movies, Ms. Magazine , The Hollywood Reporter , and more. She's worked at EW for six years covering film, TV, theater, music, and books. The author of EW's quarterly romance review column, "Hot Stuff," Maureen holds Master's degrees from both the University of Southern California and the University of Oxford. Her debut novel, It Happened One Fight , is now available. Follow her for all things related to classic Hollywood, musicals, the romance genre, and Bruce Springsteen.

While Kenneth Branagh 's first two outings as Agatha Christie detective Hercule Poirot were classic murder mysteries, A Haunting in Venice is, as its name suggests, most decidedly a ghost story.

The slight shift in tone and genre, leaning into the supernatural elements of the storytelling, does wonders for Branagh's take on Poirot, elevating the movie beyond the solid, if somewhat bland entertainment of the first two films. Additionally, while Branagh tackled two of Christie's most famous works in his initial efforts, Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile , the lesser-known 1969 novel Hallowe'en Party serves as the source material this time, with screenwriter Michael Green diverging even further from the original story. The result is something altogether more inventive, surprising, and engaging.

Poirot — played again by Branagh, with his thick Belgian accent and piercing blue eyes that seem to discern all wrongdoing — has gone into retirement, holing up in Venice and refusing to take another case. As such, he takes a bit of a backseat to the action, which leaves him to do what he does best: solve murders. There's no pesky, overwrought backstory here, no mustache origin stories. Instead, Branagh inhabits Poirot with an affection and lived-in-ness befitting of his third go with a character he can now don like a favorite sweater.

When an old acquaintance, mystery novelist Ariadne Oliver ( Tina Fey ), visits Poirot, she invites him to attend a Halloween party and seance at the Palazzo of famed opera singer Rowena Drake ( Kelly Reilly ). Some months prior, Rowena's daughter, Alicia (Rowan Robinson), committed suicide by jumping from the balcony into the canal below. Desperate to hear her daughter's voice, Rowena recruits famed medium Mrs. Reynolds ( Michelle Yeoh ) to contact Alicia's spirit. But when the evening goes drastically wrong, the ensemble — which includes housekeeper Olga Seminoff (Camille Cottin), shell-shocked doctor Leslie Ferrier ( Jamie Dornan ), his precocious son Leopold ( Belfast's Jude Hill), and Reynolds' assistant Desdemona (Emma Laird) — find themselves locked in a house that boasts all manner of horrors.

Branagh, teaming with cinematographer and frequent collaborator Haris Zambarloukos, transforms the Palazzo into an off-kilter haunted house and relies on canted angles to indicate the unbalanced state of Poirot's mind. While Orient Express and Nile were designed to showcase the opulence of their settings, here Zambarloukos is much more inventive with his shot set-ups, using fish-eye lenses, tilted frames, darkness, shadow, and severe high and low angles to thrust the audience into this unsettling world.

Poirot and, by extension, the audience are never quite sure whether what they're seeing is real or not — and much of the film is built upon the legacy of ghost stories and how and why we choose to believe them. The design, from the cinematography to the art direction, enhance this sense of supernatural unease. We trust Poirot to have an explanation for everything, but what happens when he simply does not? That's the question at the heart of the action, a ghostly war between Poirot's reliance on deduction and logic and the far more human, irrational foibles of loss, greed, obsession, and the unexplainable.

Branagh leads a strong ensemble here. Yeoh is satisfyingly mercenary and chilling as Ms. Reynolds, toeing the line between canny businesswoman and purveyor of spiritualism in a way that keeps us guessing. While Cottin, largely unknown to American audiences, is inscrutable in the best way, her stern exterior belying her kindly heart.

Fey offers some of her strongest work in years. Generally, she plays a heightened version of herself, but here she is a heavily fictionalized play on Christie, a mystery novelist responsible for Poirot's fame. As Oliver, she is spritely, a tad vain, and a mercurial presence that keeps Poirot and the audience on their toes. At first glance, Fey seems an odd fit for a period piece; she's so firmly associated with a specific brand of modern comedy. But she sinks into the world with gusto, complete with a believable, delightful transatlantic accent.

Dornan, who Branagh featured so exquisitely in Belfast, is a bit underused here as a doctor coming apart at the seams. But his chemistry with Hill, who reprises the father-son relationship with Dornan after Belfast , is perfection — and Hill continues to grow as a natural actor who pulls your eye straight to him in every scene. Branagh has found a real talent in the young performer and continues to mold him admirably.

Perhaps what is most satisfying about A Haunting in Venice is the ways in which it continually surprises. Where the previous Christie adaptations felt by the book, Venice startles at every turn and isn't afraid of jump scares and genuine moments of horror. It is more mystery or thriller than scary movie — and it effectively takes up the themes of the greatest mystery writers, the ways in which grief, trauma, and loss defy even the most rational of brains. The most frightening thing of all isn't the prospect of ghosts, but the ways in which our choices and our pasts haunt us more effectively than any supernatural specter could.

Amidst all this, Venice is also just a heck of a lot of fun, from its eerie Venetian mask costumes to the intriguing ways in which its central mysteries unfold. With heaps of atmosphere and a general spookiness, it's the perfect choice for a Halloween party. Grade: B

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‘A Haunting In Venice’ Review: Kenneth Branagh Brings a Supernatural Dimension to His Hercule Poirot Series

Tina Fey and Michelle Yeoh are among the latest additions to the ever-expanding ensemble of stars beset by mystery, as Poirot investigates the possibility of ghosts.

By Todd Gilchrist

Todd Gilchrist

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(L-R): Tina Fey as Ariadne Oliver and Kenneth Branagh as Hercule Poirot in 20th Century Studios' A HAUNTING IN VENICE. Photo by Rob Youngson. © 2023 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.

An adult-oriented crowd pleaser of the sort that seldom gets made any longer without superheroes being involved, and better than that, is quite entertaining, “ A Haunting in Venice ” extends 2023’s streak as the Year That Hollywood Lured Grown-Ups Back To Theaters. Less prestigious than practiced in spotlighting the star wattage of its pedigreed cast, Kenneth Branagh ’s third Agatha Christie adaptation offers a nimble stopgap between drier art-house fare, traditional studio tentpoles and scrappy genre material leaching ticket sales from their pricier competitors — while satisfying all three potential audiences.

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As with the previous films in this series (and indeed, in ensemble films like this in general), the casting is key to the success of the story, even more than the resulting solution (or solutions) to its mystery. For better or worse, the star-director takes his foot off the accelerator just a bit to play a slightly less sexy Poirot than in previous outings (that said, get someone who looks at you the way that Branagh looks at Kenneth Branagh). But his comparatively more sober take on the character is born naturally from his circumstances at the beginning of the film, even if Daniel Craig’s resuscitation of Benoit Blanc in “Glass Onion,” who was similarly smarting from inactivity before being called back into service, eats more than a little bit of Poirot’s lunch here.

Even so, who better than Tina Fey to play a self-important, slightly bullying know-it-all who conceals her questionable competence behind a thin layer of condescension? It’s a role that was seemingly born for the actress who brilliantly played Liz Lemon for seven seasons. Meanwhile, a fresh-from-her-Oscar-win Michelle Yeoh beautifully navigates a crucial but sometimes invisible line between empath and charlatan in her limited screen time as Mrs. Reynolds. Jamie Dornan probably qualifies as the next-biggest star in the cast, and he delivers more PTSD than is really required to sell his character Leslie Ferrier’s wartime field surgeon bona fides, but the intensity of his performance provides a nice counterpoint to the turn given by Jude Hill, once again playing Dornan’s onscreen child (after leading Branagh’s “Belfast”) as Leslie’s morbid, precocious son Leopold.

Gifted as they are, Reilly and Scamarcio — along with Kyle Allen as Maxime Gerard, Alicia’s former lover, Camille Cottin as Rowena’s housekeeper Olga Seminoff, and Emma Laird and Ali Khan as Mrs. Reynolds’ assistants Desdemona and Nicholas Holland — show that they understand their respective assignments enough not to stand out, except when necessary as suspects (or red herrings). Conversely, Branagh counts on his longtime cinematographer Haris Zambarloukos to emphasize the space, especially the subjective terror of being in a building whose inhabitants may not all be among the living. Although the duo don’t fully return to the comic-book dutch angles of their work on “Thor,” Zambarloukos’ extensive use of anamorphic lenses (imagine a film shot with your iPhone camera constantly set at .5 distance) amplifies the sensation of something scary lurking in the shadows or just around the corner.

Reviewed at El Capitan Theater, Sept. 6, 2023. MPA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 103 MIN.

Production: A 20th Century Studios release and presentation of a Kinberg Genre, The Mark Gordon Co., TSG Entertainment, Agatha Christie Limited, Scott Free production. Producers: Kenneth Branagh, Jody Hofflund, Simon Kinberg, Ridley Scott. Executive producers: Mark Gordon, Louise Killin, James Pritchard
Crew: Director: Kenneth Branagh. Screenplay: Michael Green, based on the book “Hallowe'en Party” by Agatha Christie. Camera: Haris Zambarloukos. Editor: Lucy Donaldson. Music: Dara Taylor.
With: Kenneth Branagh, Tina Fey, Camille Cottin, Riccardo Scamarcio, Kelly Reilly, Jude Hill, Jamie Dornan, Rowan Robinson, Michelle Yeoh, Emma Laird, Kyle Allen, Ali Khan.
Music By: Hildur Guðnadóttir

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A Haunting In Venice Review

15 Sep 2023

A Haunting In Venice

Both the selling-point and the limitation of the Poirot films is that you know exactly what you’re getting. The time-period and the tone are so set in stone that it requires a fresh A-list cast of suspects and new scenic location to differentiate each from the last (see also: Bond, Fast & Furious ). So credit where it’s due to Kenneth Branagh , who has given this a shockingly different feel even while hitting all the necessary beats.

The first slight change wrought by Branagh and writer Michael Green is the time-period: contrary to the traditional Agatha Christie interwar setting, this takes place in 1947. Poirot (Branagh) has retired from detecting, much to the chagrin of many would-be clients who camp outside his door nightly and are repelled by his bodyguard Portfoglio (Riccardo Scamarcio). But the arrival of his pal Ariadne Oliver ( Tina Fey ), a crime writer, tempts him back. She wants him to debunk the work of psychic Mrs Reynolds ( Michelle Yeoh ), who has lined up a Halloween séance in the crumbling palazzo of grieving opera diva Rowena Drake (Kelly Reilly).

This new tactic of rewriting obscure Christie novels with wild abandon shows real promise.

There’s a creepier energy here, the plot packed not only with murders but possibly paranormal events, out of keeping with standard whodunnit vibes, Poirot struggling to separate ghost from reality. To emphasise the eeriness, Branagh gives free rein to his long-standing weakness for a Dutch angle, tilting the camera every which way, looking for the creepiest corners of the storm-wracked palazzo, while cinematographer Haris Zambarloukos keeps the lighting just the right side of dingy.

Surrounding Branagh’s reliable Poirot, it’s a mixed bag. Fey brings screwball energy to Oliver, while Reilly seems both delicate and desperate. But Yeoh doesn’t get to do much more than pose, make vaguely sinister statements and be insulted by both Poirot and Oliver. The Belfast reteaming of Jamie Dornan and Jude Hill gives the latter more to do, oddly, though Dornan is suitably twitchy as a veteran with PTSD.

In the end, it still comes down to a gathering of the survivors for a grand reveal and an impossibly convoluted explanation. Some things are essential — and we wouldn’t want this old dog to reveal too many new tricks. Strain too hard for change and you end up with backstories for facial hair and similar madness. Still, this new tactic of rewriting obscure Christie novels with wild abandon shows real promise.

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Kenneth Branagh in A Haunting in Venice.

A Haunting in Venice review – Branagh’s Agatha Christie whodunnit given horror makeover

No amount of spooky jump-scares can save Kenneth Branagh’s latest Christie adaptation, which wastes its atmospheric setting and stellar cast

S creenwriter Michael Green and director-star Kenneth Branagh have coaxed another gold-effect egg from that plump goose which is the Agatha Christie estate. Legendary moustachioed Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot, played by Branagh, is back for another ensemble outing with many biggish-to-big names phoning it in for the paycheck. This movie appears to be trying for a tougher, nastier, horror-ish feel, perhaps to scoop up some of the younger scary-movie fanbase alongside the Werther’s Original demographic that normally turns out for this kind of thing.

The timeline follows on from the previous Poirot case, Death on the Nile ; the year is 1947, and Hercule Poirot is in genial retirement in Venice, where he employs ex-cop Vitale (Riccardo Scamarcio) as his personal bodyguard. But his friend, the bestselling American mystery author Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey) is in town. She impishly persuades him to come with her to a Halloween séance being conducted at a nearby palazzo by the famous psychic Mrs Reynolds (Michelle Yeoh) – with a view, of course, to debunking her. Horrible events ensue. Could sinister ghostly forces be at work? Well, Poirot takes a refreshingly atheist view and, like the Scooby-Doo gang, believes that supernatural phenomena and non-rational explanations are a diversionary tactic promoted by those with something to hide.

A Haunting in Venice is freely adapted from a late Agatha Christie novel, Hallowe’en Party, from 1969, and does at least look better than its predecessor, which used cheesy digital effects and back-projections to suggest Egypt and the Nile. Now Branagh is going for something creepier and more claustrophobic: the sepulchral interior of the ancient haunted palazzo, cut off from the police launches by stormy weather, much like the snowed-in country houses of old – although Venice connoisseurs may wonder if there might not be a way, in cases like these, of approaching a palazzo from another direction, by land.

With each new Branagh/Poirot movie I have sat down for some guilty-pleasure fun, and he always brings to the part a basic level of sprightly energy. But each time I have been disappointed by the trudging inertia that sets in – and here by the false-ending, fake-reveal moments which the movie just breezes through, and also by the criminal waste of the supporting cast. In particular the waste of comedy genius Fey, who does a sort of tough-talking broad routine but with no real dialogue material to work with. There is, however, a laugh when Poirot solemnly remarks: “You wake the bear from his sleep, you cannot cry when he tangos.” And Fey acidly replies: “That’s not a saying in any language.”

As in Death on the Nile, A Haunting in Venice takes the story at a pretty even pace, and its jump-scare moments, sometimes accompanied by a close-up of Poirot looking dramatically to his left, do not have the investment that an true horror film would have given them, and so feel just like a hiccup. Well, there’s always hope for future Christie movies with less tricksiness: how about political satire The Augean Stables, about Poirot and a dodgy prime minister?

Crime films
Agatha Christie
Film adaptations
Kenneth Branagh
Michelle Yeoh

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Movie Review: Kenneth Branagh crafts a sumptuously spooky ‘A Haunting in Venice’

This image released by 20th Century Studios shows Kenneth Branagh as Hercule Poirot, left, and and Tina Fey as Ariadne Oliver in a scene from “A Haunting in Venice.” (20th Century Studios via AP)

This image released by 20th Century Studios shows a scene from “A Haunting in Venice.” (20th Century Studios via AP)

This image released by 20th Century Studios shows Kelly Reilly as Rowena Drake in a scene from “A Haunting in Venice.” (20th Century Studios via AP)

This image released by 20th Century Studios shows, from left,Tina Fey as Ariadne Oliver, Michelle Yeoh as Mrs. Reynolds, and Kenneth Branagh as Hercule Poirot in a scene from “A Haunting in Venice.” (20th Century Studios via AP)

This image released by 20th Century Studios shows Kenneth Branagh as Hercule Poirot in a scene from “A Haunting in Venice.” (20th Century Studios via AP)

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Kenneth Branagh indulges in the kind of macabre theatricality that only a crumbling Venetian palazzo on a stormy Halloween night can provide in “ A Haunting in Venice. ”

Moviegoers probably long ago made up their mind one way or another about Branagh’s stately and flawed Hercule Poirot franchise, but should there be any curiosity left for this third installment is worth it. It is spooky, fun and features Tina Fey, looking smart and sleek in post-war suits as the fast-talking author of wildly successful whodunnits who says things like “I’m the smartest person I know” in a mid-Atlantic accent.

Set in 1947 on a particularly foggy night in the city of canals, “A Haunting in Venice” is beautiful to look at, with costumes by Sammy Sheldon, production design by John Paul Kelly and cinematography by Haris Zambarloukos. And it’s embellished with moody but palatable scares that feel reminiscent of classics like “The Innocents” and “The Others,” that are enhanced by Hildur Guðnadóttir’s score. In other words, this might not excite a “Saw” enthusiast, but for the more easily scared and skittish it hits just the right notes.

Agatha Christie takes a bit of a backseat here, as Branagh and screenwriter Michael Green take only the loosest inspiration from her 1969 book “The Hallowe’en Party” for their haunting, firstly by moving it to Venice. It’s where Poirot has chosen to live out his self-imposed retirement (an enviable exile if there ever was one). His whereabouts are hardly a secret though — desperate folks line up outside of his picturesque apartment hoping he’ll take a stab at their cases. But for now, a handsome Italian bodyguard (Riccardo Scamarcio) is there to make sure they don’t get close enough to ask.

Fey’s Ariadne Oliver gets through the gates, though, with a different kind of offer: She wants Poirot to accompany her to a séance. This medium, she says, appears to be the real deal and only he’ll be able to figure out if it’s all a trick. Soon he, reluctantly, finds himself at a Halloween party for the city’s orphans, held by a famous opera singer, Rowena, (Kelly Reilly) with a famously dead daughter whom they hope to contact later that evening when the children depart.

Branagh recruited a few of his “Belfast” stars into this ensemble, including Jamie Dornan as doctor still haunted by the war and Jude Hill as his precocious son Leopold. Camille Cottin is a housekeeper, Kyle Allen is the dead girl’s ex-fiancé, and Michelle Yeoh is the theatrical medium Mrs. Reynolds, who seems to be having a grand time chewing the scenery as a possible femme fatale. It is a distinct shift in tone from the previous films — sadder and more serious, with grief and death everywhere. Even before Alicia’s mysterious death (off a balcony, into the canal with a horrific scrape on her back) the grand palazzo had a body count: It’s where doctors are said to have locked up children to die during the plague.

And this crew is in for a long, stormy, claustrophobic night with finger pointing, more deaths and some inexplicable phenomena at play. Poirot’s existential crisis is probably the least interesting aspect of the whole thing, despite its centrality to the plot, but Branagh doesn’t waste too much of his time diving into those self-indulgent waters.

Maybe Branagh should have been leaning more into horror this whole time with this franchise. Or maybe it’s a case of underestimating a director whose work is prolific and not always personal. It can be hard to take stock of a filmmaker’s career when they’ve made great Shakespeare and Cinderella adaptations as well as “Thor” and “Artemis Fowl.” But it’s always a pleasant surprise when it works as “A Haunting in Venice” very much does.

“A Haunting in Venice,” a 20th Century Studios release in theaters Friday, is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association for “some strong violence, disturbing images and thematic elements.” Running time: 107 minutes. Three stars out of four.

MPAA Definition of PG-13: Parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

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A haunting in venice, common sense media reviewers.

Stark, spooky Hercule Poirot murder mystery has violence.

A Haunting in Venice Movie Poster: Five people stand in a circle against a black background, looking down

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Addresses ideas related to faith/belief in the for

Hercule Poirot, like Sherlock Holmes, is fascinati

Main character Hercule Poirot is a White man. Most

Murders and jump scares. Character falls from heig

Sporadic language includes "s--t," "bastard," "Chr

A boy offers to get his distraught father "a pill.

Positive Messages

Addresses ideas related to faith/belief in the form of arguments about whether ghosts are real, whether there's an afterlife, whether there's a human soul. But in the end, movie suggests that nobody knows for sure and that anything's possible. (There's a sense of hope.) Scenes involving a scary shadow-play story lead to a character saying that "Scary stories make life less scary."

Positive Role Models

Hercule Poirot, like Sherlock Holmes, is fascinating. He's extremely bright, he grasps everything. But he seems sad, suffering from untold losses. He spends most of his time alone, seems locked into a very rigid way of thinking. His intelligence and skill are inspiring, but he's probably not someone to emulate in the long run. Other characters have flaws and questionable motivations. Women are smart, sharp, business savvy. Some characters are disbelievers in ghosts/the afterlife, some prey on the beliefs of the believers. One character says, "there is no such thing as psychic phenomena ... there is only psychic pain."

Diverse Representations

Main character Hercule Poirot is a White man. Most other characters are White, although performers come from all over Europe and Asia: Ireland (Branagh, Jamie Dornan, Jude Hill), England (Emma Laird, Kelly Reilly), France (Camille Cottin), Italy (Riccardo Scamarcio), Malaysia (Michelle Yeoh), and the United States (Tina Fey). The actor who plays Nicholas Holland, Ali Khan, appears to be of Indian descent. Other characters of color appear in small/background parts. Women are depicted as smart, independent, and confident.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Violence & Scariness

Murders and jump scares. Character falls from height and is impaled on statue. Character impales self with sword. Spooky stuff: ghosts, sudden noises, screaming, doors slamming, things falling, glass breaking, etc. Fighting, punching, slapping. One person holds another's head over broken window glass. Flashbacks to a person sinking into water and drowning, with others retrieving her lifeless body from the water. Poison used. Four large scratch marks on character's back. One person "clotheslines" another with his outstretched arm; the person hits the ground. Attempted drowning in a tub of apples. Character pushed off of bridge into water. People violently throw things across room. Character tripped by sliding crate. Threats. Cut finger. A bird suddenly attacks another bird. Bees fly out of a skeleton's mouth. A character talks about being a soldier, liberating the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp and contending with typhus and death; he admits to "shooting himself through the chest." Dialogue about children locked in a basement and left to die.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sporadic language includes "s--t," "bastard," "Christ" (as an exclamation), "damn," "hell."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

A boy offers to get his distraught father "a pill."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that A Haunting in Venice is writer-director and star Kenneth Branagh 's third murder mystery centering on novelist Agatha Christie's brilliant detective Hercule Poirot. It has a different tone from predecessors Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile : It's more contemplative, stark, and spooky. Violence includes murders, jump scares, people being impaled (one by a statue, one by a sword), ghosts, sudden noises, screaming, glass breaking, attempted drowning, fighting, punching, slapping, threatening with broken glass, poison, injury, and more. A woman is seen slipping under water and drowning, and there's discussion over whether she was murdered or died by suicide. Another character discusses an attempt at suicide. Infrequent language includes "s--t," "bastard," "Christ" (as an exclamation), "damn," and "hell." A boy offers to get his distraught father "a pill." The movie is quietly, eerily effective, raising questions about ideas related to faith and belief in the form of arguments about whether ghosts are real, whether there's an afterlife, and whether there's a human soul. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Parents say (8)
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Based on 8 parent reviews

Boring and Dark

A little creepy but still very christie, what's the story.

In A HAUNTING IN VENICE, Hercule Poirot ( Kenneth Branagh ) is retired and living in Venice. He's hired a former police officer, Vitale Portfoglio ( Riccardo Scamarcio ), as a bodyguard to ward off desperate people looking for sleuthing services. Then Poirot is visited by bestselling mystery author Ariadne Oliver ( Tina Fey ), who has a proposition. She's working on a book about a famous medium, Joyce Reynolds ( Michelle Yeoh ). She can't figure out how Reynolds does her supernatural seances and wants Poirot to accompany her to see if he can find anything. They attend a Halloween party for orphans at the palazzo of Rowena Drake ( Kelly Reilly ), who, after the party, wishes to contact the spirit of her daughter, Alicia. Alicia had fallen from the balcony and drowned; it may or may not have been murder. Lo and behold, more murders start happening, and Poirot goes to work seeking the facts and finding a suspect. But something is wrong: Poirot himself has begun hearing voices and seeing ghosts.

Is It Any Good?

Stark and spooky, Branagh's third Poirot movie successfully adopts a whole new atmosphere. It's less exotic and edgier, more haunted; it's a tense, thoughtful, and satisfying mystery. Murder on the Orient Express had a fluid use of space aboard a cramped, moving train, while Death on the Nile used bright, open spaces. A Haunting in Venice , which is mainly set indoors, during a storm, and in the late hours of Halloween night -- when the barrier between the living and the dead is said to be at its thinnest -- plays with more shadowy, angular, and even hallucinogenic filmmaking.

Author Agatha Christie published the source novel, Hallowe'en Party , in 1969, more than 30 years after the Orient Express and Nile novels, perhaps suggesting a hard-earned fatalism, which Branagh attaches to this movie's fabric. He seems freshly inspired, and his direction flourishes through Christie's material. As ever, he's equally adept with his actors, himself giving an appealingly wounded performance while slowly stripping away the other characters' veneers of protection, revealing their painful pasts. The mystery itself is clever and effective, though it comes almost with a sense of resignation; there's no joy in solving this murder. Even so, A Haunting in Venice leaves off with a sense of promise.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about A Haunting in Venice 's violence . How much is actually shown? What's the impact of the violence that's not shown? Is that thrilling, or shocking?

What's the appeal of scary movies ? Why is it sometimes fun to be scared?

Which characters are "good," and which are "bad" -- or is it hard to tell? Why do films often want viewers to see people as one way or another, rather than showing humans' capacity to be both?

Like Poirot, do you believe that there are simple, black-and-white solutions for every problem? Why, or why not?

Why do you think author Agatha Christie and Poirot have such enduring appeal?

Movie Details

In theaters : September 15, 2023
On DVD or streaming : November 28, 2023
Cast : Kenneth Branagh , Tina Fey , Michelle Yeoh , Jamie Dornan
Director : Kenneth Branagh
Inclusion Information : Female actors, Asian actors, Middle Eastern/North African writers
Studio : 20th Century Studios
Genre : Thriller
Run time : 103 minutes
MPAA rating : PG-13
MPAA explanation : some strong violence, disturbing images and thematic elements
Last updated : January 27, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

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Cast & crew
User reviews

A Haunting in Venice

Kenneth Branagh, Michelle Yeoh, Tina Fey, Kelly Reilly, Emma Laird, Jude Hill, Riccardo Scamarcio, Camille Cottin, Jamie Dornan, Kyle Allen, and Ali Khan in A Haunting in Venice (2023)

In post-World War II Venice, Poirot, now retired and living in his own exile, reluctantly attends a seance. But when one of the guests is murdered, it is up to the former detective to once a... Read all In post-World War II Venice, Poirot, now retired and living in his own exile, reluctantly attends a seance. But when one of the guests is murdered, it is up to the former detective to once again uncover the killer. In post-World War II Venice, Poirot, now retired and living in his own exile, reluctantly attends a seance. But when one of the guests is murdered, it is up to the former detective to once again uncover the killer.

Kenneth Branagh
Michael Green
Agatha Christie
Michelle Yeoh
Jamie Dornan
487 User reviews
250 Critic reviews
63 Metascore
6 wins & 4 nominations

Hercule Poirot

Joyce Reynolds

Dr Leslie Ferrier

Ariadne Oliver

Alessandro Longo

Vitale Portfoglio

Vincenzo Di Stefano

Puppet Show MC

Olga Seminoff

Rowena Drake

Leopold Ferrier
Child (Cookie Gobbler)
Child (Crying Girl)

Alicia Drake

Desdemona Holland

Child (Staircase 1)
All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

All About 'A Haunting in Venice'

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Did you know

Trivia Sir Kenneth Branagh worked with the technical department to cause surprises for the cast. The actors were not warned about lights going out suddenly, or gusts of wind and slamming doors on the sets in which they worked, causing genuine confused and startled reactions from the actors to appear in the film. Kelly Reilly confirmed that filming the seance scene was a terrifying experience saying in an interview, "It scared the bejesus out of me."
Goofs Shortly after the first seance, one of the two assistants is seen picking up two hurricane lamps (whch were still alight) by holding them at their tops. Something that would be impossible to do unless you had burn proof hands.

Ariadne Oliver : Scary stories make real life a little less scary

Connections Featured in The Project: Episode dated 22 September 2023 (2023)
Soundtracks When the Lights Go on Again Written by Bennie Benjamin , Sol Marcus and Eddie Seiler Performed by Vera Lynn Courtesy of Decca Music Group Limited Under license from Universal Music Enterprises

User reviews 487

Sep 16, 2023
How long is A Haunting in Venice? Powered by Alexa
September 15, 2023 (United States)
United States
20thcenturystudios
Film Sözlük
Án Mạng Ở Venice
Campiello dei Miracoli, Campo Santa Maria Nova, Venezia, Italy
20th Century Studios
Kinberg Genre
Scott Free Productions
See more company credits at IMDbPro
$60,000,000 (estimated)
$42,471,412
$14,279,529
Sep 17, 2023
$122,290,456

Technical specs

Runtime 1 hour 43 minutes
Dolby Atmos
IMAX 6-Track

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'A Haunting in Venice' review: A sleepy Agatha Christie movie that won't keep you up at night

Another Agatha Christie movie, another old-school whodunit that doesn’t measure up to Kenneth Branagh’s amazing mustache .

“A Haunting in Venice” (★★½ out of four; rated PG-13; streaming now on Hulu ), Branagh’s third go-round as ace Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot (and third time manning the director’s chair), is only marginally better than the previous two stale outings, 2017’s “Murder on the Orient Express” and last year’s “ Death on the Nile .” For his newest starry murder mystery , based on Christie’s “Hallowe’en Party,” Branagh challenges Poirot’s deductive mind and supernatural belief system and surrounds him with spookiness that can only spiff up a creaky plot and thin characters so much.

Set in 1947 – 10 years after “Nile” if anyone’s counting – this tale finds Poirot retired and living in Venice, Italy. After a career of seeing the worst of humanity while solving murders and witnessing the horrors of war, the ex-detective is content gardening, hiding from potential clients and waiting for his pastry delivery (like a post-war Postmates).

Who's the murderer? The biggest changes between the book and movie 'A Haunting in Venice'

“Cakes for cases,” Poirot’s friend Ariadne Oliver ( Tina Fey ) teases him when she comes to visit. The world’s top mystery writer is in Venice to attend a Halloween seance held at a supposedly haunted palazzo, which was once an orphanage but is now said to house the spirits of tortured children.

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The palazzo's owner is opera star Rowena Drake (Kelly Reilly), a soprano who hasn’t sung a note since her ill daughter Alicia suffered a broken engagement and bizarrely took a header into a nearby canal, and she’s hired renowned psychic Joyce Reynolds ( Michelle Yeoh ) to hold a gathering to communicate with the dearly departed.

Knowing Poirot will think all this is hooey, Ariadne convinces him to come along and debunk the “Unholy” Mrs. Reynolds as a charlatan. But a long and twisty night kicks off in murderous fashion: One of the guests winds up dead, the survivors are trapped by a nasty storm, and Poirot gets back to what he does best, though our hero is thrown off his game when he starts to see and hear strange things.

An intriguing lot rounds out the suspect list, including “Belfast” co-stars Jamie Dornan and Jude Hill as a doctor suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and his clever son, Kyle Allen (“West Side Story”) as Alicia’s ex-fiancé and Camille Cottin (“Stillwater”) as Rowena’s loyal housekeeper. Fey’s Ariadne is the only supporting player that really pops, as a wry foil to the reserved Poirot. The detective himself gets another decent fleshing-out from what Christie had on the page courtesy of Michael Green’s screenplay, which takes more freedom with the source material than "Orient Express" and "Nile" did with their better-known tomes.

Like Branagh’s previous mysteries, “Venice” is awfully nice to look at and Oscar-winning "Joker" composer Hildur Gudnadøttir's darkly classical score sets a pleasingly creepy vibe alongside masked Italian gondoliers and costumed kids. Yet aside from Yeoh’s character and the occasional odd figure in a mirror, it’s not nearly as scary as it should or could be – the family-friendly “Haunted Mansion” is more unsettling, honestly – and the narrative is a grind to get through before Poirot finally reveals all.

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The main problem with these throwback Christie adaptations is that, while sufficiently stylish and serviceable, they just don’t have the infectious, go-for-broke energy of a “Knives Out” movie or even a more relatable version of a classic literary sleuthing type like the “Sherlock” TV series. Multiple bodies drop dead, Poirot’s facial hair is still on point, but “Haunting” can’t exorcise ghosts of the past enough for a thrilling case.

In Theaters and Digital

A haunting in venice (2023) - movie review.

Just in time for the All Hallows Eve season comes another in the recent series of Agatha Christie novel adaptations from director Kenneth Branagh . While his 2017 Murder on the Orient Express and last year’s Death on the Nile received lukewarm critical receptions and found limited success, Branagh hopes to turn that ship around with his latest adaptation.

A Haunting in Venice brings a refreshing twist to Christie 's quick-witted and charmingly self-deprecating Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, taking him into the realm of the supernatural. Screenwriter Michael Green seamlessly weaves together elements from Christie 's Hallowe'en Party with her supernatural short stories, resulting in an intriguing adaptation that transports the audience to an enchanting Venetian Palazzo.

The decision to change the setting from an English cottage to a Venetian Palazzo proves to be a good one as the grandeur and mystique of Venice provide a stunning backdrop for this ghostly tale. Haris Zambarloukos ’s cinematography captures the city's unique ambiance, making it an essential character in the story. The use of canals, masks, and candlelit corridors adds an eerie and ethereal quality that elevates the film's atmosphere.

At its core, A Haunting in Venice is a classic ghost story, unfolding over a single spine-tingling night in 1947 as we meet Detective Poirot ( Branagh ) now retired from police work, disillusioned by humanity, and having shut himself off from the rest of world.

The tension builds steadily as Zambarloukos ’s camera explores the dark corners and weather-worn stairwells of the spooky palazzo, and director Kenneth Branagh expertly utilizes the Venitian Gothic architecture to enhance the eerie ambiance. We are drawn into the mystery, and as the supernatural events unfold, we can't help but find ourselves invested in the whodunnit story.

What truly sets this adaptation apart in the trilogy is the exploration of Hercule Poirot's character. Unlike the two previous films which primarily dealt with broad themes of revenge and greed, A Haunting in Venice delves into the supernatural, offering a fresh perspective on the famous detective. Branagh 's portrayal of Poirot is both vulnerable and resolute as he confronts forces beyond the scope of his usual deductive skills. This depth adds a layer of complexity to the character that Christie 's original story – as well as the two previous installments – did not provide.

The supporting cast also shines in their roles, with each character contributing to the overall mystery. Reilly delivers a captivating performance as the enigmatic Venetian hostess, while a talented ensemble cast of suspects featuring Jamie Dornan, Dylan Crobett-Bader, Jude Hill , and others, keeps you guessing until the very end.

The film maintains a slightly slower pace than the other Poirot adaptations which might spell a bit of doom for some viewers, but this deliberate pacing allows for more robust character building and atmospheric immersion. In addition, the haunting score complements the visuals beautifully, adding to the overall sense of unease.

With A Haunting in Venice, Branagh and Green succeed in breathing new life into Agatha Christie 's iconic detective. But is it enough to power this installment above the previous two and keep the series a strong recommend? Probably not.

However, their addition of the supernatural element provides an intriguing departure from this Poirot mystery series. The Venetian setting, the palpable sense of dread, and the reimagining of the Poirot character make the film a memorable addition to the Christie cinematic universe.

MPAA Rating: PG-13. Runtime: 103 mins Director : Kenneth Branagh Writer: Michael Green Cast: Kenneth Branagh; Michelle Yeoh; Jamie Dornan Genre : Mystery | Crime Tagline: Memorable Movie Quote: "for once in your life, admit that you're up against something bigger than you" Theatrical Distributor: 20th Century Fox Official Site: https://www.20thcenturystudios.com/movies/a-haunting-in-venice Release Date: September 15, 2023 DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: Synopsis : In post-World War II Venice, Poirot, now retired and living in his own exile, reluctantly attends a seance. But when one of the guests is murdered, it is up to the former detective to once again uncover the killer.

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DVD & Streaming

A Haunting in Venice

Crime , Drama , Horror , Mystery/Suspense

Content Caution

In Theaters

September 15, 2023
Kenneth Branagh as Hercule Poirot; Michelle Yeoh as Mrs. Reynolds; Jamie Dornan as Dr. Leslie Ferrier; Tina Fey as Ariadne Oliver; Riccardo Scamarcio as Vitale Portfoglio; Kyle Allen as Maxime Gerard Kelly Reilly as Rowena Drake; Camille Cottin as Olga Seminoff; Jude Hill as Leopold Ferrier; Emma Laird as Desdemona Holland; Ali Khan as Nicholas Holland; Rowan Robinson as Alicia Drake

Home Release Date

October 31, 2023
Kenneth Branagh

Distributor

20th Century Studios

Movie Review

Hercule Poirot’s little gray cells have served him well. But by 1947, they deserve a break. And so does Poirot.

The great detective is finished with murder, done with death. He’s turned his ever-orderly mind to more gentle pursuits in Venice: measuring marketplace eggs to the millimeter for his breakfast. Dusting (that’s right, dusting ) his garden. His bodyguard, Vitale, keeps potential clients at bay, keeping Poirot’s world clean and conflict-free.

But then an old friend comes to call—a paperback mystery writer, of all people—by the name of Ariadne Oliver. She’s in town for a séance, led by a woman the papers call “the unholy Mrs. Reynolds.”

Ariadne, like Poirot, has always assumed that mediums such as Mrs. Reynolds were invariably phony. But Mrs. Reynolds? She’s something different. And try as Ariadne does to catch the medium’s chicanery, she’s been unsuccessful. Now, she wants Poirot to join her at the séance—to put his little gray cells to use one more time and spot the fake.

“I am the smartest person I ever met, and I can’t figure it out,” Ariadne tells Poirot. “So I came to the second.”

Poirot agrees—for an old friend. The place: a crumbling Venetian villa owned by the legendary opera singer Rowena Drake. The date: Halloween. And who will Mrs. Reynolds be trying to contact on the other side of death’s veil?

Why, Rowena’s daughter, Alicia, of course. She committed suicide not so long ago. Or so the doctor concluded. But some say the villa’s many ghosts might’ve given her a little … push.

The guests settle in for the séance, and Mrs. Roberts does her thing: She contacts Alicia. Or, at least, she seems to, before Poirot uncovers her accomplice in the chimney. The detective has done his work. He’s proved that Mrs. Roberts, while an excellent actress, is nothing but a frau—

But then the door crashes open. Mrs. Roberts’ chair begins to spin. And the medium—speaking in Alicia’s voice—screams the same word again and again.

“Murderer!” she wails. “Murderer!” It’s a shocking spectacle, to be sure. But one guest is more shocked than the rest. And if Alicia was murdered in this house, she’ll have company before the evening is over.

Positive Elements

It should not be a spoiler to say that not every guest makes it out of the villa alive. Murder is indeed afoot, and Poirot has spent his career bringing murderers and other malcontents to justice. We can laud his desire to get to the bottom of this little conundrum, too.

But we should note that the suspects he’s given are often better people than they first might appear. I’ll say little else about that, given what we learn about these characters may have a bearing on the outcome of this whodunit. But one relationship does deserve special notice.

Dr. Leslie Ferrier, a family friend of Rowena’s, is clearly a disturbed, brittle man. He hides in a room as children scamper through the villa (Rowena threw a party for the orphans—a nice act of charity itself), and he seems unable to deal with much. His young son, Leopold, now finds him in the confusing role of sometime caretaker for his own dad—making sure he’s as comfortable as he can be and reassuring his father that everything’s going to be just fine. When the doctor protests that he should be taking care of Leopold, not the other way ‘round, Leo generously tells him that he does . And indeed, we see Dr. Ferrier’s love and care for the boy demonstrated.

Spiritual Elements

We expect Hercules Poirot to investigate death. But in (the aptly named) A Haunting in Venice , he’s called to investigate something far more difficult to nail down: whether there’s life after.

Poirot comes into the story a firm skeptic. He does not believe in mediums, or the supernatural, or God. “I have lost my faith,” he says.

“How sad for you,” Mrs. Reynolds says.

“The truth is sad,” Poirot retorts.

But circumstances force Poirot to, perhaps, doubt his unbelief. He (and we) must ask whether he can trust what he sees and hears, or whether something else is burbling under the surface.

Mrs. Reynolds is, obviously, a standard-bearer for a more spiritual understanding of our world. Rumor has it that she was the last person arrested under centuries-old witchcraft laws. (She dislikes the word witch and instead prefers the moniker medium .)

She claims to talk to the dead: If she’s for real (as characters remind us), it’s proof of the soul, of the afterlife and of a more complex reality. Some argue that her visions prove that there is a God, and one who cares enough about us to give us the gift of an immortal soul. But Poirot doubts the spirits—even if they existed—would speak to Mrs. Reynolds. “If there is a God,” Poirot says, “He would not break His rule for her .”

Olga Seminoff is not a fan of Mrs. Reynolds, either—but for a far different reason. She believes the medium is indeed “unholy,” and she quotes Exodus 22:18 (“Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live”) as evidence that Mrs. Reynolds’ activities violate nature and God. When Poirot asks why she would even agree to attend the séance, Olga responds, “There is only one to whom I must answer,” she tells him. “And that is not you.”

Opinions about whether Mrs. Reynolds is a fraud or not run the gamut, even among those who know her well. She certainly talks a good game, though. And when Alicia appears to speak through her, “Alicia” claims to be “thirsty” and in torment (perhaps an echo of Luke 16:24).

The villa itself is home to a gruesome legend. It was once a children’s hospital. But when war broke out and wore on, the home’s Catholic overseers reportedly deserted the children and left them to die. Ever since then, the villa has been allegedly cursed under something called the “children’s vendetta,” where the children’s spirits torment those in the house.

We see nuns chaperone orphans, and we learn that a character used to be a nun. A shadow-puppet show features nuns and a priest, too. An elaborate clock features Adam, Eve and the snake in the Garden of Eden. A cross is shown in the background of the séance scene. A character crosses herself.

We hear references to Ouija boards and crystal balls (though Mrs. Reynolds uses a typewriter). Supernatural happenings appear to take place throughout the film. We hear someone say that every house in Venice is “either haunted or cursed.” Even the film’s poster features five of the film’s characters positioned to look like arms on a pentagram.

Sexual Content

A young couple kisses during the villa’s Halloween party. Ariadne sits next to the couple and signals a “nun alert,” and the two vamoose. One suspect secretly loves another.

Violent Content

There’s no question that Alicia is dead. In flashback, we see her fall from a villa balcony and into the water below, and several scenes show her corpse being pulled out of the water.

It’s not the only dead body we see. We’ll skimp on the details here, given the nature of the film. But some character arcs end violently and grotesquely, even though the blood we see on screen is fairly minimal. Corpses are covered with shrouds, and sometimes those shrouds can be stained with blood.

Someone tries to drown Poirot—dunking his face into a basin of water. The mark of the “Children’s Vendetta” includes bloody claw marks. (Alicia’s own body bore such marks.) Two characters get in a fistfight, and one is nearly shoved into a shard of broken glass. At least one desiccated corpse is found in the house. Someone’s punched in the face. Another character trips over a speeding trunk.

Vitale is an exuberant defender of Poirot’s privacy. When someone tries to ask Poirot to investigate some mysterious happenings, Vitale punches the man and tells him, “Touch him again, and I take your hand.” He pushes another would-be client off a bridge.

We hear several references to wartime traumas and villages burned.

Crude or Profane Language

One use of the s-word and a small assortment of other profanities, including “a–,” “b–tard,” “h—” and “d–n.” God’s name is misused three times, and “Christ” is invoked as a profanity twice.

Drug and Alcohol Content

When Dr. Ferrier looks particularly distraught, son Leo asks him if he needs a “pill.” Ariadne complains that critics called her last three books “small beer.” She’s looking for a “big beer” book now. Characters sip liquor and aperitifs. We hear a reference to opium.

[ Spoiler Warning ] A hallucinogen plays a part in the mystery.

Other Negative Elements

Two characters have fake IDs and checkered pasts, and they admit to stealing in order to survive some harsh post-war years. Characters scheme, lie and keep secrets. A couple admits to being bad at their jobs.

During the children’s Halloween party, housekeeper Olga Seminoff sidles up next to mystery writer Ariadne Oliver and tells her she’s a big fan. Ariadne’s murder mysteries underline God’s ultimate plan, she says, and prove that “the wicked will meet justice.” Ariadne acerbically laments that if only life was so clear-cut—so obviously the work of a good, just God.

A Haunting in Venice is primarily a murder mystery. It’s secondarily a horror story. But underneath it all lies that central, spiritual tension: that of a divine plan juxtaposed against the mess of the world.

Perhaps that’s why murder mysteries—in spite of all the hidden motives and secret affairs and blood on the floor—have long had an appeal for Christians, both in their reading (and watching) and writing. Some of the best mystery novelists were (and are) Christian. And those sometimes-gruesome books, in a way, are an echo of the biblical creation story: Out of chaos comes order. Out of murky, murderous darkness comes the clear light of reason, of truth, of justice. Fitting that Agatha Christie’s most famous detective, Hercules Poirot, was written as a practicing Catholic.

Director/actor Kenneth Branagh’s Poirot (whom he’s played in three movies) has no such religious bent. Secularism has claimed the light of reason as its own these days, and most Christians seem willing to cede the point. While the film takes place in 1947, its leading figure embraces a far more 21 st -century stance, where science and religion are increasingly—albeit often falsely—at odds. It seems that this Poirot has thrown religion in the same closet where mysticism and superstition reside and pocketed the key.

And yet, the doorknob turns.

The spiritual questions at the core of A Haunting in Venice makes this film the most interesting of the three—even if those same elements make it very un-Agatha Christie-like. It’s an effective horror flick, filled with atmospheric details and cheap jump scares. It’s a clever little mystery. And in terms of content, it’s far cleaner than, say, 2022’s needlessly problematic Death on the Nile .

Certainly, the movie’s supernatural and occultic elements should give anyone pause. As Olga says, such things are not meant to be trifled with. But for those who choose to see this flick, those same elements can provide some interesting discussion points—to get your own little gray cells working.

Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.

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A Haunting in Venice poster assembles its cast of suspects

August 2, 2023 by Amie Cranswick

20th Century Studios has revealed a new poster for A Haunting in Venice ahead of its theatrical release this September, featuring Kenneth Branagh in is his third outing as the legendary Belgian detective Hercule Poirot alongside the star-studded cast of the mystery drama; take a look here…

SEE ALSO: Kenneth Branagh scares up a good mystery in A Haunting In Venice trailer

A Haunting in Venice is set in eerie, post-World War II Venice on All Hallows’ Eve and is a terrifying mystery featuring the return of the celebrated sleuth, Hercule Poirot. Now retired and living in self-imposed exile in the world’s most glamorous city, Poirot reluctantly attends a séance at a decaying, haunted palazzo. When one of the guests is murdered, the detective is thrust into a sinister world of shadows and secrets.

Featuring alongside Kenneth Branagh in the all-star cast of A Haunting in Venice are Kyle Allen, Camille Cottin, Jamie Dornan, Tina Fey, Jude Hill, Ali Khan, Emma Laird, Kelly Reilly, Riccardo Scamarcio, and Michelle Yeoh.

A Haunting in Venice opens exclusively in theaters on September 15th, 2023.

About Amie Cranswick

Amie Cranswick has been part of Flickering Myth’s editorial and management team for over a decade. She has a background in publishing and copyediting and has served as Editor-in-Chief of FlickeringMyth.com since 2023.

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The Inventor is a stop-motion animated movie directed by Jim Capobianco. The Inventor tells the story of Leonardo da Vinci (voiced by Stephen Fry), who leaves Italy to join the French court, where he can experiment freely. There, Leonardo invents flying contraptions and war machines, studies cadavers, and more, while he also tackles the meaning of life itself with the help of French princess Marguerite de Nevarre (Daisy Ridley). Also part of the voice cast of The Inventor are Marion Cotillard, Matt Berry, Max Baumgarten, Ben Stranahan, and Daniel Swan.

A Haunting in Venice - September 15

A Haunting in Venice is a supernatural mystery thriller directed by Kenneth Branagh, based on the 1969 novel Hallowe’en Party by Agatha Christie, and it’s the third installment in Branagh’s Hercule Poirot film series. Set in post-World War II Venice, A Haunting in Venice follows Poirot (Branagh), who is now retired and living in his own exile. Poirot reluctantly agrees to attend a séance, and when one of the guests is murdered, it’s up to him to find out who the killer is. Also starring in A Haunting in Venice are Kyle Allen, Michelle Yeoh, Jamie Dornan, Camille Cottin, Tina Fey, and Emma Laird.

Expend4bles - September 22

Expend4bles (also known as The Expendables 4 ) is an action movie directed by Scott Waugh. The Expendables team is back and is assigned on a mission to stop Suarto Rahmat (Iko Uwais), the leader of a terrorist organization, from smuggling nuclear warheads that will unleash a conflict between Russia and the U.S. Expend4bles sees the return of Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture, and Sylvester Stallone, who are joined by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Megan Fox, Jacob Scipio, and Andy García. Like the first two movies in the Expendables series, Expend4bles has an R rating.

The Creator - September 29

The Creator is a sci-fi action thriller directed by Gareth Edwards. Set in a future where humans and the forces of artificial intelligence are at war, The Creator follows Joshua (John David Washington), an ex-special forces agent grieving the disappearance of his wife. Joshua is recruited to hunt down and kill the Creator, the architect of an advanced AI who developed a mysterious weapon that can end war and humanity itself, too. However, Joshua and his team discover that this powerful weapon is an AI in the form of a young child. Also starring in The Creator are Gemma Chan, Ken Watanabe, Allison Janney, and Sturgill Simpson.

Saw X - September 29

Saw X is a horror film directed by Kevin Greutert and serving as a direct sequel to Saw and a prequel to Saw II . As such, Saw X reunites viewers with John Kramer (Tobin Bell), who, desperate to find a cure for his cancer, travels to México for a risky and experimental medical procedure. Unfortunately, the entire operation turns out to be a scam, so Kramer sees a chance to continue his work and make the scammers pay for what they have been doing. Also starring in Saw X are Shawnee Smith (reprising her role as Amanda Young), Synnøve Macody Lund, Steven Brand, and Michael Beach.

Key Release Dates

The equalizer 3, my big fat greek wedding 3, the inventor (2023), a haunting in venice, expend4bles, the creator.

'Oppenheimer' Ending Explained: I Am Become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds

One final scene that looks at a closing conversation we had only glimpsed once before captures the unrelenting specter of death Oppenheimer created.

Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Oppenheimer.

The Big Picture

Oppenheimer explores the devastating consequences of creating the atomic bomb and its lasting impact on the world.
The film depicts Oppenheimer's realization that their creation could destroy everything they know, leading to a horrifying reckoning when the bomb is dropped.
The final scene between Oppenheimer and Einstein reveals the tragic truth that their self-centered pursuit and arrogance led to the destruction of the world.

When sizing up a film like Oppenheimer , a sprawling work about the man behind the creation of the first nuclear weapons that may just be writer-director Christopher Nolan ’s most colossal and mature film yet , there is a temptation to pull on the many threads that unravel before us. True to the book on which it is based, the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography “American Prometheus,” it spans decades in the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer with the central focus being how he becomes the head of the Manhattan Project where he works to create the weapons of mass destruction that will kill hundreds of thousands of people when they are dropped over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. In doing so, he cemented a sordid legacy as being one of the men that forever reshaped the world in blood and pushed us to the now-constant brink of annihilation. It is in the final moments where Nolan makes this explicit, even going so far as to have a character imply that much of what preceded it was largely unimportant, making any discussion of the film itself require an in-depth read of this ending. Thus, if it wasn’t already clear, this piece contains complete spoilers so best bookmark this page and come back after you’ve seen it for yourself.

The closing scene is not actually the one furthest forward in time. Rather, it is one that we saw early on from a different perspective after Oppenheimer succeeded in his mission of making the atomic weapon that is now recontextualized. As played by a positively haunting Cillian Murphy in one of his best performances to date, we had previously observed the physicist meeting with Albert Einstein ( Tom Conti ) down by a small body of water while Lewis Strauss ( Robert Downey Jr. ) watches on. When the scene first occurs, the two men had what seemed like a serious albeit brief conversation that we did not get to hear the details of. All we knew is that Einstein walked away, ignoring Strauss as he did so, with a grim expression now etched on his face. The film then moves forward and backward from this moment, exploring in detail both how we got there as well as the aftermath of what followed. This includes the process of creating the Los Alamos Laboratory where Oppenheimer and his colleagues worked for years all the way through Strauss unsuccessfully attempting to become U.S. Secretary of Commerce. While Nolan explores both timelines, the key to it all keeps coming back to this one scene that we revisit one final time in the crushing closing moments.

Oppenheimer

The story of American scientist, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and his role in the development of the atomic bomb.

'Oppenheimer' Is About the Death of the World by Man’s Hand

Early on in the process of trying to create the weapon, that they naively said would end all future wars, Oppenheimer and his colleagues were faced with the possibility that it may in fact destroy everything they had come to know. Though he would later assure those like Leslie "Dick" Groves ( Matt Damon ) that there was a non-zero chance of this occurring, all of this was theoretical and there was still a sense that pushing the button on their first test might be the last thing they ever did. The math presented the possibility that it could trigger a chain reaction until everything and anything was gone. This terrifying prospect is something we see playing out in Oppenheimer’s mind constantly as he imagines the world being consumed by fire, the sound of screams swallowing up everything around him in a frightening fashion.

That this doesn’t happen when they do their test seems to offer relief, as the world continues spinning just as it did before. However, while Oppenheimer tries to run from what he has created, the reality is that it has forever and fundamentally changed life for the worse. A scene where he gives a speech after the bomb is dropped is meant to be victorious, but it is horrifying as his delusions are obliterated. He tries to pretend this is something to celebrate only for us to hear the screams louder than ever before, see the flesh melting off of the faces of the audience, and even observe the body of someone burned beyond recognition crumble beneath his foot. The people in the room may not have been consumed by a hellfire of their own creation, but countless others were because of their actions. Their world was technically still intact, but for so many others it was snuffed out in an instant. Everything they had ever been and could be was now gone forever. No matter how much Oppenheimer tries to undo what he has done and argue against the further use of atomic weapons, it is a Pandora’s box that unleashes destructive forces he cannot close back up once he has pried it open.

When he then talks in that final scene with Einstein, who had himself initially tried to push for the program before by writing a letter to President Roosevelt before also turning against it and deeply regretting his initial support, the otherwise tranquil scene by the water is defined by tragedy. Both men, full of insights about the possibilities of the world, were now living in one that was worse off because of this same knowledge. When we come back to this moment in the end, we finally hear what it was that they said to each other that resulted in Einstein being shattered into silence. Oppenheimer asks him if he remembers when he had initially shown him the math that raised the concern that they might destroy the world. Einstein said he did. After all, how could one forget something like that? This holds even more true when Oppenheimer then says that they actually did do just that. The words linger in the air and Einstein turns away with nothing to say in response, the darkness consuming his face at the inescapable truth of what he just heard. While Strauss had speculated that the conversation had somehow been about him, the reality as we have now seen it was that both his and the ego of the men involved mattered little in the grand destruction they had created. It was precisely this self-centered pursuit and arrogance tied to their hollow accomplishments, no matter the immense cost they were all fully aware of, that led to our present broken world.

The Ending of 'Oppenheimer' Reveals the Lasting Legacy of the Man

When Oppenheimer then stands alone, with one final vision of the world being utterly and completely destroyed by his creation playing out fully, the unmitigated terror of what they’ve done is not tempered by his speaking it aloud. His empty acknowledgment came too late for the thousands who died and the many more who could in an instant. It is in this moment, without anything else to say, that his legacy is laid bare. There is no coming back from it, no salvation for him , only the looming specter of death that he brought down upon this world.

Oppenheimer is now available to stream on Peacock in the U.S.

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Berchtold plays Richard Beck, a sensitive and artistic college student who lost his mother when he was young and is the only son of businessman Zachary Beck (Anthony Michael Hall). Five years ago, he was the victim of a traumatic kidnapping that left him mutilated.

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Tee is repped by Authentic Talent and Literary Management, Verve Talent and Literary Agency and Behr Abramson Levy Johnson. Berchtold is repped by Canopy Media Partners and Jackoway Austen Tyerman, et al. Montesinos is repped by Alvarado Rey Agency. Stewart is repped by 3Arts Entertainment, Gersh, and Jackoway Austen Tyerman, et al.

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