Jacked In Reviews ‘Wicked Little Letters’ (2024)

Thea Sharrock’s Wicked Little Letters, a movie that is British from head to toe, so what better place to experience it, than in the establishment that champions the sub-genre… Tyneside Cinema.

Showcasing actual events, “this story that is more real than you think”. Set in 1920s Sussex, in the town of Littlehampton, we follow the well-to-do Edith Swan (Olivia Colman) and her authoritarian father, Edward Swan (Timothy Spall). And it seems Edith has been receiving some abusive letters as of late.

How could you not laugh at “Foxy-assed rabbit-fucker”?

Abusive letters that are so irreverent in their vulgarity, that they can’t help but be funny. Even though it’s taking pleasure in someone else’s misfortune, how could you not laugh at “Foxy-assed rabbit-fucker”? Inevitably, all fingers point to the crass, irish-loudmouth of the town, Rose Gooding (Jessie Buckley). The whodunnit aspect is soft at best and even if you can see the culprit a mile off, there is still so much fun to be had. The story, as real as it is, finds itself in a fictitious world, where humour and incompetence reign – especially amongst the police force (not too dissimilar to Hott Fuzz’s Sandford).

What separates it, however, and gives the movie its own identity, is its ability to catch you off guard by inserting these heavy – even troubling at times – scenes amongst the laughter. As well as presenting women as second-class citizens we’re also in this small town dealing with the aftermath of World War One. Spall, easily steals focus for the movie’s more serious segments, giving an unsettling portrayal of an overbearing father who must control his home and everything in it, including his adult daughter.

Leading the laughter is very much Buckley and Coleman.

Each character does a marvellous job of putting a smile on your face (even Spall in some cases), from their personalities to their countryside accents but leading the laughter is very much Buckley and Coleman. Rose with her Irish, drinking, no fuck’s given confidence and Edith, who is slightly more layered. She’s uptight and conceded but lets her real self out now and again (hilariously thanks to Colman being a veteran in British comedy). The two are equally talented titans of cinema and it’s great seeing them play off each other in a very different sense this time around. As the last time we saw them together, Buckley played a younger version of Colman in (the much more dramatic) The Lost Daughter.

It may not have gone as far as it could have but if the actual events were half as funny as they’re portrayed in this movie, then this is a brilliant window into a humorous part of British history.

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