Trolling isn’t just a 21st century phenom.
Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley star in the wild true story of a series of harassing letters that threatened to ruin the lives of two women in Britain back in the 1920s. “Wicked Little Letters” is directed by Thea Sharrock from a script by Jonny Sweet. The film debuted at TIFF.
Based on a true scandal that stunned 1920s England, the story centers on neighbors Edith Swan (Colman) and Rose Gooding (Buckley) in the seaside town of Littlehampton. One day, a series of obscene letters begin to target Edith and others, with suspicion falling upon Rose. As the outrageous letters continue to escalate, Rose risks losing both her freedom and custody of her daughter. Police Officer Gladys Moss (Anjana Vasan) is determined to find the real culprit, and along with a group of other women, seeks to solve this perplexing mystery.
The logline reads: Small town. Big mystery. Bad language.
Malachi Kirby, Eileen Atkins, and Timothy Spall also star. Lead actress Colman produces along with Graham Broadbent, Peter Czernin, Ed Sinclair, and Jo Wallett. The film is a co-production between Film4 Productions, Blueprint Pictures, South of the River Pictures, and People Person Pictures.
“Wicked Little Letters” marks a reunion between “The Lost Daughter” co-stars Colman and Buckley. The duo previously portrayed the same character at different ages in Maggie Gyllenhaal’s directorial debut.
The IndieWire review for “Wicked Little Letters” praised the film’s unwrapping of the era’s gender roles and “the punishment women face for not adhering to a narrow idea of what it means to be a woman.”
Per the review, the film “often plays like an extended comedy sketch with little interest in reality. As the film progresses, dirty words become more plentiful as the women begin to break loose from the bonds of propriety. The film adopts an irreverent tone as most of the actors are all but winking at the camera. Buckley and Colman play Rose and Edith with gleeful energy. Everyone seems to know they’re in a movie and it feels like they could break character at any moment.”
“Wicked Little Letters” premieres February 23 in the U.K. from Studiocanal. Check out the trailer below.
