Wicked Little Letters Movie Review

​

Every woman should watch this, just to see if they recognize anything from their own life. This is hysterical, so if you do, know it’s all in fun… or is it? Don’t worry, guys! You’ll love this, too. Perhaps you’ll get a glimpse of your friends, too. Sorry if you do.

What we have here is a good old-fashioned period piece in Littlehampton, England. And it’s based on a true story. This was such a scandal back then! For more on the dirty linen, look toward the book “The Littlehampton Libels” by Christopher Hilliard. After watching the movie, you’ll want to.

“Wicked Little Letters” is a mystery with some nasty goings on, pre-social media, but with very much the same feel. Vulgar letters are sent to the spinster, Edith Swan, who still lives with her parents. Olivia Coleman plays Edith exceptionally well, and Timothy Spall and Gemma Jones play her parents. The cast is exceptional.

Anyway, the letters Edith is receiving are foul-mouthed right from the start. So much so that she and her parents are beside themselves when they read them. They can’t believe she’s receiving such ugliness. Her friends? Not so much. The letters call Edith such things as a “piss country whore,” “foxy *ss rabbit *ucker,” and often mention the word cock just to startle.

Edith has a neighbor named Rose, whom she was trying to help become a proper woman after the death of her husband. Rose is played by Jessie Buckley, who starred in “The Lost Daughter” with Oliva Coleman. She has a young daughter and a boyfriend named Bill (Malachi Kirby). Rose is foul-mouthed, and Edith becomes suspicious of her immediately. The reason? Rose and Edith were friends, but life and what happens during it breaks them apart. They still live next door to one another, so they are generally cordial but usually unsympathetic to anything the other may be facing.

Since Edith suspects Rose is the culprit of the letters, she attempts to get her friends to back her. They disagree, finding Rose to be someone who’d say how she feels straight to your face rather than send it through the post. Having nothing to hide or lose, Rose says this, as well. One day, her friends come up with quite a long list as to who the writer could be, laughing at Edith’s expense. Edith isn’t pleased hearing about what people think of her but holds her nose in the air, ignoring the thoughts of others. It is Rose, and that’s all there is to it! But does Rose have a motive?

Considering this nasty letter writing is an offense leading to prison time, Edith wants the letter writer found. She suggests Rose so the male Constables are on the case! The only female officer, Gladys Moss (Anjana Vasan), whose father worked in the station but is mainly asked to fetch drinks rather than do any real police work, doesn’t believe it’s Rose either. She and some others set out to prove their theory. When this storyline kicks in, we get subtle humor that has you rolling with laughter. However, when Moss isn’t allowed to continue her work, Rose is picked up and put in prison with no real evidence against her. The third act is tremendous. We get an Edith who is showing her pent-up anger issues and a woman whose only chance of being freed is by other women she barely knows, playing the spy game in an attempt to get the proof they need to exonerate her.

“Wicked Little Letters” is a treasure, and the cast is overwhelmingly amusing when it’s needed. I’m not just saying this shite for no reason. They’re so well suited for these roles! The film would be best seen at the theater, so you don’t miss the faces made between ladies who don’t always agree with one another… but do seem to settle with the person wielding their poison pen, that Edith isn’t always who she presents herself to be. This will have you cracking up. Oh! If you’re sensitive to the use of dirty words, see this anyway. There’s no better use of this language than by women being pushed aside in a man’s world.