Director: Thea Sharrock
Writer: Jonny Sweet
Stars: Olivia Colman, Jessie Buckley, Timothy Spall
Synopsis: When people in Littlehampton–including conservative local Edith–begin to receive letters full of hilarious profanities, rowdy Irish migrant Rose is charged with the crime. Suspecting that something is amiss, the town’s women investigate.
Shakespeare would be rolling in his grave. The bard who coined the phrase ‘brevity is the soul of wit’ would likely find himself reeling at the many tangential, bric-a-brac ways in which the subjects of Wicked Little Letters manage to insult each other. Yet for all it may seem to be striving for subversiveness, or to evoke a shock factor that can only come from hearing British icon Olivia Colman call someone a “f**king old steaming bag of wet, leaking sh*t”, Wicked Little Letters – beyond the foul-mouthed tirades which are undoubtedly the USP for the marketing department – is actually a safe, paint-by-numbers affair. None of that is to say it’s not a good movie. Anchored by game performances from both Colman and Jessie Buckley, and featuring a number of supporting acts from the likes of Timothy Spall, Anjana Vasan, and Hugh Skinner, Wicked Little Letters is a fun, light-hearted experience that probably won’t last long in the memory.
Based, incredibly, on true events, Wicked Little Letters tells the story of Edith Swan (Colman) a simple, devout woman living with her parents in the sleepy town of Littlehampton in the 1920s. Edith tries to be a good daughter, a good neighbor, and a good citizen. She helps out in her community, attends church on Sundays, and has a smile for everyone she sees. This is in direct contrast to her new neighbor Rose, a belligerent Irish woman who uses curse words like punctuation, and whose sexual liberation is at odds with Edith’s own pious nature. It’s unsurprising, then, that the two women eventually find themselves at odds with each other.
What’s perhaps more surprising are the poison pen letters which appear through Edith’s door. Each letter, and the movie begins at letter 19, features crude remarks and rants aimed at Edith’s character, and soon a distraught Edith contacts the local constabulary, who immediately suspects Rose. What seems like an open and shut case, however, is challenged by Woman Police Officer (yes, that’s her title) Gladys Moss (Vasan) who suspects that not all is quite as it seems.
Wicked Little Letters makes a solid attempt to satirize the sort of British eccentricity you don’t see in traditional period pieces such as Downton Abbey, but screenwriter Jonny Sweet is perhaps too reliant on this aspect. Although the letters are mildly amusing and creatively written, the novelty wears off quickly. We’re left with an overly quirky set-up that can’t sustain itself throughout its runtime, however much its cast attempts to lift the material. Strangely enough, Wicked Little Letters performs better in its backdrop of social upheaval in the wake of World War I. The small attempts at social commentary – a woman police officer who wants parity of esteem; the suffrage movement – bring a sharper color to the world than anything front and center to the narrative.
Colman is the MVP here: with her rise to stardom it’s easy to forget her background in British comedy staples such as Peep Show, where she made her breakthrough. Her natural comedic talent shines through here and helps lift the material. Buckley, by contrast, has the lesser role as Rose, a liberated woman unafraid to be confrontational, but still brings an easy naturalism to the part. Elsewhere, Timothy Spall is excellent as a hard-hearted father outraged at the ‘modern world’ he sees as having given women too much control; Lolly Adefope and Joanna Scanlon are decent comic folsl, though given limited screen time; and Anjana Vasan gives a good performance as an exhausted female officer trying to be taken seriously in a field dominated by men.
Everything is fairly perfunctory and well acted, and there are amusing moments – mostly from Colman – but due to its repetitive nature and over-reliance on its central conceit mean Wicked Little Letters will likely fade in the memory.
