Filmtheater Fanfare | Wicked little letters

With pause*

Two films in a row from the UK, both commendable for their excellent acting performances alone. After Glenda Jackson and Michael Caine in The great escaper are now the lead roles for Olivia Colman, Jessie Buckley and Timothy Spall.

The British seaside town of Littlehampton in the 1920s is rocked by vulgar and mysterious letters, which fall on the mat of more and more villagers. Naturally, everyone points the finger at Rose, who doesn't quite conform to village morals: she rather easily says what she thinks and is comfortable doing so in firm terms. The latter, incidentally, gets her into trouble when custody of her little daughter is called into question.

But then some women from the village decide that the truth must come out.....

"The pleasure of Wicked little letters is in the performances. Colman and Buckley make themselves small and big respectively, a menacing Timothy Spall is the misogyny incarnate, and Anjana Vasan arouses sympathy as the young policewoman who tries to command respect from her colleagues with big eyes." (de Morgen)