Director: Thea Sharrock
Starring: Olivia Colman, Jessie Buckley, Timothy Spall, Gemma Jones, Eileen Atkins
Running Time: 100 minutes
Synopsis: It's the 1920s in the English town of Littlehampton, and aging spinster Edith Swan (Olivia Colman) receives a series of vulgar letters. Her father Edward (Timothy Spall) suspects the writer is their coarse next door neighbour and Edith's former friend Rose Gooding (Jessie Buckley). Despite no evidence (other than her outspoken Irishness) linking her to the letters, Rose is arrested and charged. Police officer Gladys Moss (Anjana Vassan) suspects the wrong woman has been implicated, and initiates a surreptitious investigation.
What Works Well: The idyllic small-town setting of Littlehampton is quaint, and both Olivia Colman (repressed) and Jessie Buckley (unconstrained) deliver committed if monotonal performances. The story's foundations reside within actual (albeit bizarre) real events. One joke (German deployed to protect a child from profanity) lands well.
What Does Not Work As Well: The script delights in unleashing (in equal measures) obscenities and sanctimonious moralizing about the evils of a patriarchal society. The smug portrayal of all men as buffoons is tiresome, and the intellectual depth to probe the letter writer's emotional motivations is lacking. The anachronistic casting of non-white actors in white roles coupled with the avoidance of racial narrative themes exposes the shortcomings of color-blind casting.
Key Quote:
Rose: Why would I send a letter when I can just say it?
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