A Haunting in Venice marks the third entry in Kenneth Branagh's series of Hercule Poirot film adaptations, following Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile. Branagh, who directed these films, reprises his role as the famous mustachioed Agatha Christie detective. This movie is based on Christie's novel, Hallowe'en Party, but it takes significant liberties with the setting and characters, deviating significantly from the original story. A Haunting in Venice Movie Review: Kenneth Branagh's New Hercule Poirot Mystery is Effectively Spooky and Intriguing.

So, what unfolds in A Haunting in Venice? Before we delve into the details, please be aware that this article contains MAJOR SPOILERS about the film. In this movie, Hercule Poirot is called out of retirement by his author friend Ariadne Oliver to attend a seance party in a haunted building in Venice, hosted by Rowena Drake. The seance is led by the renowned medium Joyce Reynolds, with Rowena hoping to contact the spirit of her daughter Alicia, who died a year ago, allegedly by suicide by jumping from the building's terrace.

Other attendees include Dr Leslie Ferrier, a close friend of Rowena suffering from war-induced PTSD, along with his young son Leopold, Olga Seminoff, the caretaker, and Maxime Gerard, Alicia's ex-fiance who was mysteriously invited to the seance. Poirot also brings his bodyguard Vitale Portfoglio to the event, while Joyce's two assistants, Desdemona and Nicholas, who are half-siblings, are also present. That night takes a sinister turn when Joyce is found murdered, and Poirot himself is nearly fatally attacked by an unseen assailant.

Poirot also begins to experience hallucinations, shaking his belief that there are no ghosts. However, every murder has a logical explanation, and Hercule finds himself unraveling not one but three murder cases that night, including those of Alicia and Ferrier, who is later found impaled by a sword, even though he was alone in his room. So, who is the perpetrator?

The Usual Suspects

Hercule Poirot discovers that each person in the building has a motive to commit the murders, or at least one of them. Desdemona and Nicholas wish to escape Joyce's employment and head to Missouri as a means to escape poverty. Ariadne aims to expose Poirot himself, wanting to see him fail in debunking Joyce's seemingly inexplicable spirit communication, so she can write a book about his failure. She has been colluding with Vitale all along, who also happens to be a former cop and was the first to arrive at the scene when Alicia died, giving him knowledge of the building's layout. Olga was the last person with Alicia before her death, according to her own admission. Maxime, Alicia's ex-fiance, is suspected due to their troubled relationship and alleged financial motives. Poirot later realises that Maxime genuinely loved Alicia and wanted to get back with her before her demise.

However, the true killer is none of them. It turns out to be...

Oh Mama!

Poirot deduces that Rowena is responsible for Alicia's death and the murders of Joyce and Dr Ferrier to cover up her involvement. Rowena, obsessively attached to her daughter, becomes jealous of Alicia's relationship with Maxime, fearing that he will take her daughter away from her. To prevent this, she administers hallucinogens to her daughter, causing her to experience hallucinations. Poirot unravels this when he discovers that he, too, has been given hallucinogens through a cup of tea, with Rowena keeping the bottles locked in her closet.

Regardless, after having her daughter declared insane, Rowena keeps Alicia confined to her room and bed, with Olga taking care of her. Rowena continues to administer limited doses of hallucinogens to Alicia. On the night of her demise, Olga inadvertently administers an overdose of hallucinogens during Alicia's convulsions, which results in her death. Rowena, in an effort to divert suspicion, stages Alicia's death to appear as if the ghosts haunting the house were responsible, marking her back with claw marks before dropping her body from the terrace into the water below.

The Murders of Joyce and Dr Ferrier

Why did Rowena murder Joyce, and how did she manage to kill Dr Ferrier? Rowena had been receiving anonymous blackmail notes for a year, with the sender claiming knowledge of her guilt in Alicia's death. Rowena had been paying this blackmailer for months, depleting her finances. In desperation, she suspects Joyce of being the blackmailer when Joyce claims to be able to contact Alicia's spirit and reveal her killer, prompting Rowena to murder her. Death on the Nile Movie Review: Kenneth Branagh, Gal Gadot, Ali Fazal’s Whodunit is Mostly Charmless With Occasional Bursts of Excitement!

Poirot also begins to experience hallucinations, shaking his belief that there are no ghosts. However, every murder has a logical explanation, and Hercule finds himself unraveling not one but three murder cases that night, including those of Alicia and Ferrier, who is later found impaled by a sword, even though he was alone in his room. So, who is the perpetrator?

The Usual Suspects

Hercule Poirot discovers that each person in the building has a motive to commit the murders, or at least one of them. Desdemona and Nicholas wish to escape Joyce's employment and head to Missouri as a means to escape poverty. Ariadne aims to expose Poirot himself, wanting to see him fail in debunking Joyce's seemingly inexplicable spirit communication, so she can write a book about his failure. She has been colluding with Vitale all along, who also happens to be a former cop and was the first to arrive at the scene when Alicia died, giving him knowledge of the building's layout. Olga was the last person with Alicia before her death, according to her own admission. Maxime, Alicia's ex-fiance, is suspected due to their troubled relationship and alleged financial motives. Poirot later realises that Maxime genuinely loved Alicia and wanted to get back with her before her demise.

However, the true killer is none of them. It turns out to be...

Oh Mama!

Poirot deduces that Rowena is responsible for Alicia's death and the murders of Joyce and Dr Ferrier to cover up her involvement. Rowena, obsessively attached to her daughter, becomes jealous of Alicia's relationship with Maxime, fearing that he will take her daughter away from her. To prevent this, she administers hallucinogens to her daughter, causing her to experience hallucinations. Poirot unravels this when he discovers that he, too, has been given hallucinogens through a cup of tea, with Rowena keeping the bottles locked in her closet.

Regardless, after having her daughter declared insane, Rowena keeps Alicia confined to her room and bed, with Olga taking care of her. Rowena continues to administer limited doses of hallucinogens to Alicia. On the night of her demise, Olga inadvertently administers an overdose of hallucinogens during Alicia's convulsions, which results in her death. Rowena, in an effort to divert suspicion, stages Alicia's death to appear as if the ghosts haunting the house were responsible, marking her back with claw marks before dropping her body from the terrace into the water below.

The Murders of Joyce and Dr Ferrier

Why did Rowena murder Joyce, and how did she manage to kill Dr Ferrier? Rowena had been receiving anonymous blackmail notes for a year, with the sender claiming knowledge of her guilt in Alicia's death. Rowena had been paying this blackmailer for months, depleting her finances. In desperation, she suspects Joyce of being the blackmailer when Joyce claims to be able to contact Alicia's spirit and reveal her killer, prompting Rowena to murder her. Death on the Nile Movie Review: Kenneth Branagh, Gal Gadot, Ali Fazal’s Whodunit is Mostly Charmless With Occasional Bursts of Excitement!

Rowena also suspects Dr Ferrier of being the blackmailer since he performed Alicia's post-mortem examination. When Dr Ferrier is locked in his room, Rowena contacts him through the phone line and coerces him into taking his own life while threatening his son. Dr Ferrier, driven by fear, complies to protect Leopold and impales himself on a sword.

Rowena's Karmic Fate

After Poirot exposes her as a murderer, Rowena escapes to the terrace for reasons known only to her, but she slips and falls to her death in the water below.

The Real Blackmailer:

Poirot later reveals that he had already identified the blackmailer, who turns out to be the guilt-ridden Leopold, who was previously established as unusually perceptive for his age. Leopold wanted to help his father overcome his PTSD, and they needed the money for his treatment.

Leopold realizes that Alicia was poisoned, drawing conclusions from his father's post-mortem notes, which his father had overlooked. Leopold connects the hallucinogens to the play in which Rowena had starred, Mitridate, re di Ponto, whose lead character, Mithridates, was referred to as the 'king of poisons.' He had been sending those anonymous notes to Rowena, unaware of the danger he was putting his father in.

The Hopeful Ending

The remaining survivors find some semblance of a hopeful ending the next day. Olga adopts the orphaned Leopold and takes him to the US, along with Nicholas and Desdemona, to start anew in Missouri. Poirot refrains from pressing charges against Vitale, although he is presumed to no longer be her bodyguard. Poirot's friendship with Ariadne is also strained, with the duration of their estrangement left uncertain. Poirot decides to end his retirement and resumes solving cases.

Ghosts or No Ghosts?

One aspect of A Haunting in Venice leaves viewers uncertain about whether to believe in the supernatural or not. Poirot understands that his encounters with ghosts are a result of the hallucinogens administered by Rowena. However, there are a couple of enigmatic incidents. For instance, he stumbles upon the broken tea cup that leads to his revelation almost by supernatural intuition when he is in Alicia's room. Before Rowena's fatal fall from the terrace, Poirot appears to see Alicia's disembodied spirit behind her, which seemingly affects Rowena and causes her to slip. Poirot later attributes it to the hallucinogenic effects when speaking to Ariadne, but a hint of doubt remains in his expression.

Furthermore, Joyce's behavior before her death is intriguing. While her initial seance attempt was exposed as fraudulent, she exhibited strange behavior and seemed possessed by Alicia's spirit. She might have even revealed her killer's name by repeatedly uttering 'Mama.' Rowena, driven by grief or guilt, genuinely believed that Joyce was possessed by Alicia, further motivating her to murder the medium. Joyce's two assistants provide conflicting accounts of her. Desdemona brands her a fraud during Poirot's questioning, whereas Nicholas believes his former boss to be a genuine medium, despite assisting her in staging hoaxes. The film intentionally keeps viewers guessing about the existence of actual ghosts.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 16, 2023 09:32 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).