Movie: A Haunting in Venice (2023) Caution Spoiler Alert

 A Haunting in Venice

Came out; 2023

Time; 1 hr 43 min

Watched: Hulu

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

IMDB Rating; 6.6/10

Caution; Spoiler Alert

Staring.

Kenneth Branagh as Hercule Poirot

Jamie Dornan as Dr. Leslie-Ferrier

Dylan Corbette-Bader as Baker

Riccardo Scamarcio as Vitale Portfoglio

Michelle Yeoh as Joyce Reynolds

Tina Fey as Ariadne Oliver

Kelly Reilly as Rowena Drake

Jude Hill as Leopold Ferrier

Story Line.

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.

Thoughts:

This movie was visually stunning! It was beautiful and gothic. I loved everything about this. If you've followed these, Murder on the Orient Express and a Death on the Nile you know these are very well put together.

By the end you semi figure out the who done it. Still when everything comes together you get the full picture!

CAUTION; Major Spoiler Alert

In 1947, Hercule Poirot lives in retirement in Venice, employing ex–police officer Vitale Portfoglio to act as a bodyguard. On Halloween, mystery writer Ariadne Oliver convinces Poirot to attend a Halloween party and séance at the palazzo of famed opera singer Rowena Drake and to expose Joyce Reynolds, a World War I army nurse turned medium, as a fraud. The palazzo itself is claimed to be haunted by the spirits of children who, when the palazzo was an orphanage, were locked up and left to die when a plague swept through the city, with rumors that the spirits torment any nurses and doctors who dare to enter.

Rowena has hired Joyce to help her commune with her daughter Alicia, who reportedly died by suicide after her fiancé, chef Maxime Gerard, broke off their engagement. Among the guests in attendance are Maxime, Rowena's housekeeper Olga Seminoff, Drake family doctor Leslie Ferrier and his son Leopold, and Joyce's Romani assistant Desdemona Holland.

During the séance, Poirot deduces that Joyce has two assistants, revealing Desdemona's half-brother Nicholas hiding in the chimney. Joyce suddenly speaks in Alicia's voice and reveals she was murdered by one of the guests. Poirot attempts to confront Joyce, who tells him to lighten up and gives him her mask and robe. Seconds after an unknown assailant nearly drowns Poirot when he is apple bobbing, Joyce is found impaled on a statue in the courtyard.

With a storm cutting off the palazzo, Poirot interviews the guests, during which he witnesses manifestations of Alicia's ghost and hears a young girl humming a tune. The investigation yields perplexing results:

• Leslie, severely traumatized by his experiences at the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, is in love with Rowena.

• Maxime, who was not initially invited, broke off his engagement because Rowena did not approve of him, and Alicia was obsessed with keeping her mother happy.

• Nicholas and Desdemona have been stealing from Joyce and intend to use the money to travel to St. Louis, Missouri, which they fell in love with after seeing half of Meet Me in St. Louis at a displaced persons camp.

• Leopold claims to hear voices from the spirits of children which are the same voices Poirot has been hearing ever since he was nearly drowned.

When the guests come across an underground chamber containing the skeletal remains of the dead children, Leslie suffers a panic attack and nearly kills Maxime. He is locked inside the music room to recover, Rowena giving Poirot the only key. After examining Maxime's invitation, Poirot deduces Ariadne sent it and is conspiring with Vitale. Vitale, who investigated Alicia's death and resigned from the police as a result of the case, gave Joyce private details, while Ariadne had hoped to use Poirot's incapability of explaining the supernatural as a plot for her next book. Leslie is then found stabbed to death.

Gathering the remaining guests together, Poirot reveals Rowena is the murderer. Obsessed with keeping Alicia for herself, she cut her off from contact with Maxime after learning they planned to reconcile, and then used small amounts of poisonous, hallucinogenic honey extracted from rhododendrons to weaken and then care for Alicia; the same honey was seemingly the cause of Poirot's visions. One night, Olga unknowingly gave Alicia tea containing a fatal dose. Rowena, fearful of exposure, staged Alicia's suicide.

When she began receiving blackmail threats, Rowena suspected either Joyce or Leslie. She attempted to drown Poirot, realized that she'd mistaken him for Joyce, and then pushed Joyce to her death. Later, over the palazzo's internal phone line, she forced Leslie to stab himself by threatening to kill Leopold. She hoped to pass off both deaths as part of the children's curse. When Poirot confronts Rowena on the roof, Alicia's ghost seems to appear to them both, pulling Rowena down off the building and into the canal where she drowns.

As dawn breaks, Poirot parts ways with Ariadne, elects not to fire Vitale or unmask his involvement in the séance, and privately exposes Leopold as the blackmailer. Leopold explains he understood the poisoning signs his father missed, making the connection after realizing Rowena's first starring role was in an opera whose lead character is the "king of poisons". Poirot suggests Leopold and Olga clear their consciences by using the money to help the Hollands start a new life in the United States. After noting the possibility of an afterlife, he returns home to accept new cases.