wicked little letters
★★★
.5
starring: jesse buckley, olivia coleman, anjana vasan, and timothy spall
​
REVIEWER: lyall carter
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.
While this isn’t the first time that Olivia Coleman and Jessie Buckley have starred in a film together, since they played the same character of Leda in the 2021’s The Lost Daughter, this will be the first time such formidable and accomplished actresses will be sharing the silver screen together. And while Wicked Little Letters finds hilarity in the vulgarity of the poison pen letters, with such an outstanding ensemble cast it’s at its greatest strength in its more dramatic moments.
​
When Edith and fellow residents begin to receive wicked letters full of unintentionally hilarious profanities, foul-mouthed Rose is charged with the crime. The anonymous letters prompt a national uproar, and a trial ensues. However, as the town’s women - led by Police Officer Gladys Moss (Anjana Vasan) - begin to investigate the crime themselves, they suspect that something is amiss, and Rose may not be the culprit after all.
​
The poison pen letters, while very sweary, have a kind of poetic flourish to them, and when read out loud by the ever brilliant Hugh Skinner’s Constable Papperwick, with his very keen diction and timing, they are belly laughing hilarious. However, they soon become more of a comedic crutch to lean on in many ways instead of being a tool to drive the narrative forward.
​
That lies, instead, in the exploration of the characters of Edith and Rose. As the layers of her character are peeled away, we begin to see the forces that drive Edith forward both within her as well as family and societal expectations. Equally we see Rose in all her glorious flaws but also what and who her heart really beats for.
​
The reason that Wicked Little Letters truly soars in the dramatic and thematic parts of the film, is down to Coleman and Buckley’s performances. Both are worth the ticket price alone, infusing their characters with depth, life, and vigor.
​
While Wicked Little Letters finds hilarity in the vulgarity of the poison pen letters, with such an outstanding ensemble cast it’s at its greatest strength in its more dramatic moments.
★★★
.5
