# A Haunting in Venice

A Haunting in Venice is a 2023 American mystery film produced and directed by Kenneth Branagh from a screenplay by Michael Green, loosely based on the 1969 Agatha Christie novel Hallowe'en Party. It serves as a sequel to Death on the Nile (2022) and is the third instalment of the Hercule Poirot film series. The ensemble cast includes Branagh reprising his role as Hercule Poirot, alongside 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 premiered at the Odeon Luxe Leicester Square in London on September 11, 2023, and was released theatrically in the United States on September 15 by 20th Century Studios. The film received positive reviews from critics and grossed $122.3 million worldwide.

## Plot

In 1947, Hercule Poirot has retired to Venice, having lost his faith in God and humanity, with ex-police officer Vitale Portfoglio as his bodyguard. Mystery writer Ariadne Oliver persuades Poirot to attend a Halloween party and séance at the palazzo of famed opera singer Rowena Drake, wishing to expose Joyce Reynolds—a World War I army nurse turned medium—as a fraud. The palazzo, a former orphanage, 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; rumors claim that the spirits torment any nurses and doctors who dare enter.
Rowena has hired Joyce to commune with her daughter Alicia, who committed suicide after Alicia's fiancé, chef Maxime Gerard, ended their engagement. Among the guests are Rowena's housekeeper Olga Seminoff, Drake family doctor Leslie Ferrier and his son Leopold, and Joyce's Romani assistant Desdemona Holland. They are joined by Maxime right before the séance, who received a mysterious anonymous invitation.
During the séance, supernatural happenings occur, such as a typewriter typing on its own. Poirot reveals the source of these happenings, Desdemona's half-brother Nicholas—and Joyce's second assistant—hiding in the chimney. Joyce suddenly speaks in Alicia's voice, saying that one of the guests murdered her.
After the séance, Poirot confronts Joyce, who insists he lighten up, gives him her mask and robe, and cryptically says they will not meet again. Seconds later, an unknown assailant nearly drowns Poirot when he is apple bobbing. Then, Joyce falls from an upper story and is impaled on a courtyard statue.
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 Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, is in love with Rowena and had treated Alicia before her death.
* Leopold claims to hear the same voice(s) Poirot has been hearing, a claim later also made by Leslie.
* Nicholas and Desdemona have been stealing from Joyce, intending to travel to St. Louis, Missouri, which they became enamored with after seeing part of Meet Me in St. Louis at a displaced persons camp following the destruction of their home village and loss of their family.
* Olga is a former nun who left her congregation upon meeting her now husband, Mr. Seminoff. She still retains many of her religious beliefs (calling Joyce "satanic") and was there the night Alicia died. She blames herself, as she left the girl alone when she got spooked, believing the rumors of the hauntings in the palazzo, and left Alicia who was then found dead from jumping off the balcony.
* Maxime, who was not initially invited, ended his and Alicia's engagement because Rowena disapproved of him and Alicia was obsessed with keeping her mother happy.
When the guests discover an underground chamber containing children's skeletal remains and bees, Leslie suffers a panic attack and nearly kills Maxime in an argument turned brawl. He is locked inside the music room to recover and Rowena gives Poirot the only key.
After examining Maxime's invitation, Poirot deduces Ariadne sent it and is conspiring with Vitale, who investigated Alicia's death and resigned from the police as a result of the case. He reveals that Ariadne also gave Joyce private details about the case, and that Ariadne had hoped to use Poirot's inability to explain the supernatural as a plot for her next book. Leslie is then found dead with a knife stuck in his back.
Gathering the remaining guests, Poirot reveals Rowena caused the deaths of Alicia, Joyce, and Leslie, hoping to pass them off as part of the children's curse. Obsessed with keeping Alicia for herself, Rowena poisoned her with small doses of the honey of Rhododendron ponticum (see Mad honey), weakening and then caring for a hallucinating Alicia (the same honey seemingly caused Poirot's visions) to isolate her from Maxime when they planned to reconcile. The night of Alicia's death, Olga unknowingly gave Alicia tea containing a fatal dose of the poison, killing her in her sleep, and Rowena, fearful of exposure, threw her own daughter off the balcony, staging the murder as a suicide.
Poirot then reveals that soon after, Rowena was sent blackmail threats. Suspecting either Joyce or Leslie as the sender, she organized this night as a way to get rid of her loose ends. She attempted to drown Poirot, realized that she had mistaken him for Joyce as he was wearing her mask and cape, 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. When Poirot confronts Rowena on the roof, Alicia's ghost seems to appear to them both, pulling her mother down off the building and into the canal where she then drowns.
As dawn breaks, Poirot parts ways with both Ariadne and Vitale, but chooses not to report the latter's fraud. Later, Poirot privately confronts young Leopold, the true blackmailer who needed to support himself and his father, as Leopold had identified the poisoning signs that his physician father missed. Poirot suggests Leopold and Olga clear their consciences by financially helping the Hollands begin anew in St. Louis. His faith mostly restored, Poirot returns home to accept new cases.

## Cast

* Kyle Allen as Maxime Gerard, Alicia Drake's ex-fiancé
* Kenneth Branagh as Hercule Poirot, a retired world-renowned Belgian detective
* Camille Cottin as Olga Seminoff, Rowena's housekeeper
* Jamie Dornan as Dr. Leslie Ferrier, a doctor suffering from psychological trauma
* Tina Fey as Ariadne Oliver, Poirot's friend and a crime novelist
* Jude Hill as Leopold Ferrier, Dr. Ferrier's precocious son
* Ali Khan as Nicholas Holland, Reynolds' assistant and Desdemona's half-brother
* Emma Laird as Desdemona Holland, Reynolds' assistant and Nicholas' half-sister
* Kelly Reilly as Rowena Drake, a retired opera singer and Alicia's mother
* Riccardo Scamarcio as Vitale Portfoglio, Poirot's bodyguard and a former police officer
* Michelle Yeoh as Joyce Reynolds, a supposed psychic medium
Additionally, Rowan Robinson stars as Alicia Drake, Rowena's deceased daughter, while Amir El-Masry portrays Alessandro Longo, a young man seeking Poirot's help, and Vanessa Ifediora plays Sister Maria Felicitas, a nun.

## Production
### Development

The president of 20th Century Studios, Steve Asbell, revealed in March 2022 that a script for a third Hercule Poirot film had been written by Michael Green, with Kenneth Branagh set to return as director and star. The film's plot was loosely based on Hallowe'en Party, a lesser-known Poirot novel. The film was confirmed in October 2022, with Jamie Dornan, Tina Fey, Jude Hill, Kelly Reilly and Michelle Yeoh among the cast. Branagh described the film as a "supernatural thriller" rather than a full-fledged horror film.

### Filming

Filming began on October 31, 2022, with production occurring between Pinewood Studios, on D Stage and Q Stage, and Venice.

### Locations and sets

For the haunted palazzo, a film set was built in Pinewood Studios, of the immediate surroundings of the palazzo, as well as all the interiors. For inspiration a number of real palaces were used, like the Doge's Palace, the Ca' Sagredo Hotel and the Palazzo Pisani Gritti, also a hotel. The piano nobile (or bel étage) of the building has a fresco inspired by "The Wedding of Psyche", a painting by the Pre-Raphaelite artist Edward Burne-Jones. The set of the exterior of the palace was based on the Venetian square Campo San Boldo. Some nighttime scenes were actually shot at that location.
Another set of the palazzo was built in the English town of Reading. This was a one third scale model, to be used for scenes of water splashing against the palace.
The home of Poirot consisted of several locations. The roof terrace, which can be seen at the beginning and the end of the film, is part of the Venice Conservatory. The garden belongs to the Palazzo Malipiero. The Palazzo Malipiero is in the Campo San Samuele. Apart from the garden of the palace other exteriors can be seen in the film, for instance in the scene where Poirot tries to escape the crowd of potential clients waiting at his front door.
San Giorgio Maggiore Island was used for a market scene. The Campiello dei Miracoli and Campo Santa Maria Nova were used for the scene where Ariadne Oliver tries to entice Poirot to participate in a séance. The Piazza San Marco can be seen early in the film, just like the top bell and the figures of St Mark's Clocktower, also on the square.
The Grand Canal was used in the film as well as some of the smaller canals, like Rio dei Mendicanti and Rio del Pestrin. Poirot crosses the iron bridge, Ponte dei Conzafelzi, on this latter canal.

### Music

Hildur Guðnadóttir composed the score for the film in April 2023, marking the first in the series not to be composed by Branagh's frequent collaborator Patrick Doyle. The film's soundtrack album was released by Hollywood Records on September 15, 2023.

## Release
### Theatrical

A Haunting in Venice was released in the United States on September 15, 2023, by 20th Century Studios. The film had its red carpet premiere at the Odeon Luxe Leicester Square at the West End London on September 11 with none of the cast members in attendance due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike.

### Home media

The film was released on digital platforms on October 31, followed by a Blu-ray and DVD release on November 28.
A Haunting in Venice ranked No. 6 on iTunes and No. 3 on Vudu for the week ending November 6, 2023. It debuted at No. 2 on the Official Film Chart in the U.K. for the week ending November 8, 2023. The film later ranked No. 2 on the U.K. home entertainment sales chart for the week ending November 22, 2023. The movie debuted at No. 8 on the overall disc sales chart and No. 11 on the Blu-ray chart for the week ending December 2, 2023. A Haunting in Venice generated 49% of its first-week unit sales from Blu-ray Disc, as it did not have a 4K disc release.

## Reception
### Box office

A Haunting in Venice grossed $42.5 million in the United States and Canada, and $79.8 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $122.3 million.
In the United States and Canada, A Haunting in Venice was projected to gross around $12 million from 3,305 theaters in its opening weekend. The film made $5.5 million on its first day, including $1.2 million from Thursday night previews (up from Nile's $1.1 million). It went on to debut to $14.3 million, an improvement from Nile's $12.9 million opening, and finished second behind holdover The Nun II. The film made $6.3 million in its second weekend, finishing in third.
In the United Kingdom, it became the second highest-grossing horror film of 2023, grossing approximately $12.5 million.

### Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 75% of 293 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.5/10. The website's consensus reads: "A darker and spookier spin on Branagh's Poirot, A Haunting in Venice is a decent Halloween snack whose undemanding mystery gets a lift from nifty visuals and an all-star cast." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 63 out of 100, based on 52 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale, same as the first two installments, while those polled at PostTrak gave it a 73% overall positive score, with 48% saying they would definitely recommend the film.
Jason Zinoman, writing for The New York Times, called the film a "whodunit with a splash of horror" and wrote: "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." Justin Chang of the Los Angeles Times said: "What lingers from this movie isn't the usual assemblage of clues and red herrings [..] but a free-floating air of grief, much of it rooted in the characters' turbulent memories of the war just a few years earlier". Similar sentiment was echoed by Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post who described the film as "moody"; they both praised the cast's performances. Saibal Chatterjee wrote for NDTV: "A Haunting In Venice, a couple of jump scares notwithstanding, may not chill you to the bones but as a story focused on the emotional and psychological fallout of a devastating war, it works brilliantly".
Matt Zoller Seitz acclaimed the screenplay, direction and production values and said: "Movies are rarely directed in this style anymore". He added that it was an "empathetic portrayal of the death-haunted mentality of people from Branagh's parents' generation". Seitz and critic Michael Phillips (the Chicago Tribune) named it best of Branagh's Hercule Poirot films. The latter found the cast's acting "pretty crafty". About the performances, Mark Kermode said: " [...] everyone is given a 110 percent but not in a completely scenery chewing fashion, in a way that mixes old-fashioned and newfangled".
Some critics pointed out that the film struggled in its character development. Kristen Lopez, writing for TheWrap, felt that almost all the characters were underdeveloped due to the attention given to the production values, but praised the performances, singling out Reilly, Dornan and Yeoh. The Guardian's chief film critic Peter Bradshaw also thought the film wasted its cast, awarding it two out of five stars.
In a negative review, critic Caryn James found the film "uninvolving" and said: "The new film is much pokier in its pacing, with duller characters". She commended Branagh, Fey and Cottin's performances, while stating that so many actors in the cast were "sleepwalking". In an equally negative review, David Fear of Rolling Stone called the film "anemic and sluggish" and said audiences would be "bored to death."

### Accolades

| Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipient(s) | Result |
| British Film Designers Guild Awards | February 25, 2024 | Best Production Design – Major Motion Picture – Period | John Paul Kelly, Peter Russell and Celia Bobak | Won |
| Hollywood Music in Media Awards | November 15, 2023 | Original Score — Horror/Thriller Film | Hildur Guðnadóttir | Won |
| International Film Music Critics Association Awards | February 22, 2024 | Best Original Score For a Horror/Thriller Film | Hildur Guðnadóttir | Nominated |
| Las Vegas Film Critics Society | December 13, 2023 | Youth in Film (Male) | Jude Hill | Won |
| San Diego Film Critics Society | December 19, 2023 | Best Performance by an Ensemble | The cast of A Haunting in Venice | Runner-up |
| San Diego Film Critics Society | December 19, 2023 | Best Youth Performance (for a performer under the age of 18) | Jude Hill | Nominated |
| Irish Film and Television Awards | April 20, 2024 | Best Production Design | John Paul Kelly | Won |

## Future

In October 2024, executive producer James Prichard hinted at possible future installments, stating that much like A Haunting in Venice, future films could potentially break from the norm and add other elements besides the supernatural. "If Ken [Branagh] wants to do more, and Michael [Green] wants to write more, we'll certainly do another. There's a lot of material still to go, so we're not going to run out of inspiration."
That same month, 20th Century Studios boss Steve Asbell confirmed that other Agatha Christie stories will be adapted including And Then There Were None, The Witness for the Prosecution, and a Miss Marple film.