A Haunting in Venice (2023)

Film and Plot Synopsis

Now retired and living in self-imposed exile in the world’s most glamorous city, Poirot reluctantly attends a seance at a decaying, haunted palazzo. He soon gets thrust into a sinister world of shadows and secrets when one of the guests is murdered. The film is directed by Kenneth Branagh and stars Kenneth Branagh, Tina Fey, Camille Cottin, Riccardo Scamarcio, and Kelly Reilly. (Courtesy of 20th Century Films)

‘A Haunting in Venice’ Movie Summary

The year is 1947 and world-famous detective Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh) has retired and lives in the city of Venice. Having lost faith in humanity and God, Poirot attempts to avoid public life although he has a constant line of people at his door who seek his assistance with their various cases. Poirot has enlisted the services of former police officer Vitale Portfoglio (Riccardo Scamarcio) to keep the general public at bay. However, Poirot accepts a meeting with one of his good friends, mystery writer Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey). Ariadne persuades Poirot to attend a Halloween party and séance at the palazzo of famed opera singer Rowena Drake (Kelly Reilly). Ariadne wishes for Poirot to discredit a self-proclaimed medium, Joyce Reynolds (Michelle Yeoh), as a fraud, something Ariadne has been unable to do. Poirot reluctantly agrees.

The palazzo is a former orphanage and is believed to be haunted by the spirits of orphaned children who were locked up and abandoned to die there during a city-wide plague years before. Drake has hired Reynolds to commune with her daughter Alicia (Rowan Robinson), who is alleged to have committed suicide after her fiancé, chef Maxime Gerard (Kyle Allen), broke off their engagement. Other guests in attendance are Drake’s housekeeper Olga Seminoff (Camille Cottin), Reynolds’ assistant Desdemona Holland (Emma Laird), Drake family doctor Leslie Ferrier (Jamie Dornan), and Dr. Ferrier’s young son Leopold (Jude Hill). Gerard joins at the last minute, and during the séance, Poirot reveals Desdemona’s half-brother Nicholas (Ali Kahn) is hiding in the chimney.

During the séance, Reynolds speaks in Alicia’s voice, and declares that she did not die by her own hand but was murdered by one of the guests. Poirot confronts Reynolds and expresses his disbelief in her abilities. The medium insists that Poirot needs to lighten up and gives him her mask and robe. Before leaving, Reynolds informs Poirot that they will not meet again. Seconds later, an unknown assailant nearly drowns Poirot when he stops to bob for apples. Moments later, Reynolds falls from an upper story and is impaled on a courtyard statue.

A convenient storm cuts off the palazzo from the mainland, and Poirot uses the happy accident to interview all the guests. All the while, Poirot continues to see mysterious apparitions and hears a young girl humming a tune. Poirot’s investigation reveals that nearly every guest has a motive or checkered past. Gerard, who was not initially invited to the séance, ended his engagement to Alicia because Drake disapproved of him, and Alicia was obsessed with keeping her mother happy. Nicholas and Desdemona have been stealing from Reynolds for some time with the intent of running off to St. Louis, Missouri, a place they became obsessed with after seeing it in the film Meet Me in St. Louis at a displaced persons camp. Dr. Ferrier is revealed to be severely traumatized by his experiences at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Additionally, Dr. Ferrier is secretly in love with Drake. Additionally, Dr. Ferrier and his son both claim to hear the same voices that Poirot is hearing.

When a crime has been committed, I can, by application of order and method and the slow extinguishing of my own soul, find without fail or doubt, whodunit. Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh)

During the storm, the guests discover an underground chamber that contains children’s skeletal remains and bees. Not long after, Dr. Ferrier suffers a panic attack and nearly kills Gerard. Dr. Ferrier is locked inside the music room to recover. Drake gives the sole key to the room to Poirot. As part of the investigation, Poirot examines Gerard’s last-minute invitation and deduces that Ariadne sent it. Poirot concludes that Ariadne is working with Portfoglio, who Poirot learns investigated Alicia’s death and resigned from the police force as a result of the case. Poirot learns that Portfoglio gave Reynolds private details about the investigation and that Ariadne was hoping to use Poirot’s inability to explain the supernatural elements of the evening as a plot for her next book after having several books fail to sell well. A short time later, Dr. Ferrier is found dead in the locked music room with a knife in his back.

Poirot gathers the surviving guests into one room. Poirot reveals that Drake caused the deaths of Alicia, Reynolds, and Dr. Ferrier, hoping to pass them all off as part of the children’s curse associated with the palazzo. Poirot tells the group that Drake was obsessed with keeping Alicia for herself and resorted to poisoning her with small doses of a deadly honey that weakened Alicia and caused her to hallucinate. Poirot reveals that he was dosed with the same honey which caused his hallucinations. Drake’s plan was to use the drug to keep Alicia away from Gerard. However, Seminoff accidentally gave Alicia a fatal dose in her tea, and Drake was forced to stage the suicide to cover up the accidental death. Drake reveals that she was threatened with extortion about Alicia’s death and suspected that either Reynolds or Dr. Ferrier had learned the truth. Drake killed Reynolds and Dr. Ferrier to cover up her crimes, using the palazzo’s internal phone line to force Dr. Ferrier to stab himself by threatening to kill Leopold. Poirot’s final confrontation with Drake is on the top of the palazzo. Alicia’s ghost appears before both of them and pulls Drake down off the building and into the canal below, drowning her.

The next morning, Poirot ends his friendship with Ariadne and chooses not to report Portfoglio’s fraud to the authorities. Poirot confronts the orphaned Leopold who Poirot reveals as the true blackmailer. Leopold confesses to needing the money to support himself and his distraught father. Leopold admits to observing the signs of poisoning that his father missed and realized that Drake’s first starring role was in an opera whose lead character is the king of poisons. Poirot suggests that Leopold and Seminoff clear their consciences by financially helping the Hollands with money to make their trip to St. Louis. Leopold agrees. Poirot finds his faith in humanity restored and returns to his home and begins making appointments with people who need his help solving their cases.