Why would I write a letter when I can just say it?
Main Cast: Olivia Colman, Jessie Buckley
Director: Thea Sharrock
Olivia Colman never disappoints. From Broadchurch to Fleabag, Heartstopper, and The Bear, she makes the most of every role. Even when I don’t care for a movie as a whole, if she’s in it, her performance is marvelous (looking at you, The Favourite). Seeing an unknown-to-me British period piece show up on Netflix with Colman in the leading role is the best kind of surprise. Welcome to Wicked Little Letters.
Wicked Little Letters is the story of two women in Littlehampton, England. Taking place in the 1920s, this story is one of small-town life between the wars. In particular, the life of one Edith Swan (Colman). Edith is an upstanding citizen, pure and pious. Never married, Edith is exactly the type of woman others refer to as a “pillar of the community.”
Edith lives with her parents, her life controlled by her harsh and demanding father (Timothy Spall). As we enter her story, she has been receiving the vilest of letters, filled with the type of filthy language that makes an upstanding, pious woman pale. But Edith is stalwart, rising above the insult with purity of heart and strength of character.
The powers that be in Littlehampton believe they know who is behind these horrible missives: Rose Gooding. Rose lost her husband in the war and relocated from Ireland to raise her young daughter. She has little patience for the stuffy, repressed mores of this English village, and regularly does as she pleases. She swears out loud. A lot. So she must be guilty.
Wicked Little Letters is a wicked little morality tale that happens to be based on a true story. This dark comedy does not deviate very much from the real case of the Littlehampton Letters. Names have not been changed and the details, though embellished here and there, are in place.
What liberty is taken for the film, filling in dialogue and unknowable inner turmoil, is done with a keen eye on the relationship between Edith and Rose. They were friends, once, and their banter as opponents is smart and sharply funny.
And oh, the profanity. The letters are filled with scathingly detailed and absolutely filthy insults and descriptions. To call it colorful language is to insult colors.
The very best parts of Wicked Little Letters are the scenes of Edith and Rose, both as friends and adversaries. Colman and Buckley have a marvelously complicated chemistry and both actors are at the top of their games.
Also of note is the supporting cast, particularly Anjana Vasan as the town’s only policewoman. She and some of the local ladies do some sleuthing of their own, giving a boost to the suffragette movement that’s simmering below the surface of the main narrative.
Wicked Little Letters is a delicious little dark comedy filled with small-town secrets and over-the-top characters. That it’s all true is icing on the cake. Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley play off each other like the pros they are, pushing the entire endeavor up a level. It’s entertaining, insightful, and gives the audience a peek into some of the trials (literally) of English women in the 1920s.
If you like Olivia Colman or smart, witty, scandalous historical fiction, Wicked Little Letters is an excellent choice. If you do not like swearing, stay far away. The profanity flows like a sh*t river.
I used the captions for this one. The accents were a little tricky for me and the best dialogue is rapid-fire, and I didn’t want to miss even one delightfully dirty sentence.
Sue reads a lot, writes a lot, edits a lot, and loves a good craft. She was deemed “too picky” to proofread her children’s school papers and wears this as a badge of honor. She is also proud of her aggressively average knitting skills She is the Editorial Director at Silver Beacon Marketing and an aspiring Crazy Cat Lady.
