Coleman is hilarious in ‘Wicked Little Letters’
The thing about small English towns like Littlehampton, is that everyone is in everyone’s business – especially, it seems, in 1920. The rule of the day seems to be to mind your P’s and Q’s. Or so they say. And heaven forbid you ever utter an unkind word to your neighbor.
So it’s a shock when the village’s good girl, Edith Swan, starts receiving spiteful letters filled with the most colorful swearing imaginable in “Wicked Little Letters.”
Edith’s father is convinced it’s Rose, their new neighbor. A wild Irish woman with no boundaries or filter. Edith’s mother concurs. But Edith demurely says it’s up to God to judge who is guilty and innocent.
Ultra-pious Edith only wants one thing. Well, maybe two things. It could be three. On the surface, the conservative Christian woman wouldn’t dare have a spiteful thought. In the role, Olivia Coleman shows once again why she’s such a decorated actor. It’s all in the facial expressions. The minute changes that are almost imperceptible. One moment she’s God’s perfect daughter, but in a flash, you see something flicker beneath the surface of her sanctitude. It’s riveting and hilarious.
Much of the story is over the top, but it isn’t played that way. This is, after all, a comedy.
Contrast now, Edith with Rose Gooding (Jessie Buckley). A single mother with a live-in boyfriend, Rose is loud, unfiltered, and doesn’t hold anything back. She’s the complete opposite of the sanctimonious Swan family next door. But Edith develops a friendship with Rose. And it’s clear that she’s drawn to the spitfire Irish migrant.
Yet, the friendship doesn’t last. When Child Protective Services shows up one day to question Rose about her ability to care for her daughter. Rose apparently thinks it was Edith who called them, but Edith denies it. The friendship crumbles.
And then the letters start.
Nasty notes sent anonymously are so vile the police become involved.
Recall that this is the 1920s. So the idea of a woman serving as a police officer is novel to the village and Gladys Moss (Anjana Vasan) is routinely dismissed by her peers. Despite this, she aims to be an upstanding officer and follows the rules to a T.
Something doesn’t sit right with her about the accusations against Rose. The evidence doesn’t add up. But Moss is told by her superiors to mind her own business. The letters case is not hers. Yet, that doesn’t stop her from doing her own investigation. The matter ends up in court where Edith and Rose go headto-head. Did Rose really write the letters? Or is it someone else?
What is most surprising about “Wicked Little Letters” is that it is actually based on a real event, though no doubt liberties have been taken with the details.
There are a lot of victims in this film. Edith is a victim of her father’s iron-fisted rule. Rose is a victim of gossip and misunderstanding. Officer Moss is a victim of misogyny. But in the end, it’s how each of these characters respond to their situations that sum up their characters. For some, they take their situation out on others and become perpetrators of callous words and deeds. Others rise above the injustices and become heroes.
Though that might not sound like the makings of a comedy, it is. And a really funny one, too. The situations the characters find themselves in are just absurd. And their reactions are hilarious to watch.
As for the letters themselves, without giving anything away, they have a flare that’s nearly Shakespearean. The range of insults sprinkled in with a healthy dose of f-bombs is truly awe-inspiring. The letters are spicy for the villagers, but for a modern-day audience, they’re just delightfully silly. Unless you happen to be offended by foul language.