The film opens to a ghastly old man reprimanding what is apparently a letter written by someone to his daughter, played by Olivia Colman. The opening scene is gripping enough for a viewer to stay on and discover Jessie Buckley (played by Rose Gooding), a daring young woman with a gutter mouth protecting a soft interior. Edith Swan (Olivia Colman) and the ghastly old man (her father) are apparently accusing Jessie of having written those wicked letters because the foul language matches her and Jessie apparently has a reason to hate Edith. Funnily enough, Jessie lives right next door to Edith.
Jessie is subjected to police trial over the accusations of having written those wicked letters to Edith, which is where we meet ‘Woman Police Officer Moss’ (played by Anjana Vasan) who turns out to be the highlight of the movie. She, much like Jessie, struggles to survive the claustrophobic patriarchal setup of the time. But her resolve to find the actual culprit behind the letters enables her to withstand the challenges of the gender and finally make her mark. The male police officers are no less ghastly; they do their best, albeit nonchalantly, to uphold the nauseating discrimination against women in general, and against Moss.
[Spoiler ahead]
It is revealed a little towards the end that it was in fact Edith who was writing the letters to herself. Edith’s character turns out to be the most interesting and complicated one in the movie, because she is initially depicted as the ‘perfect Christian lady’, a spinster who stays are home and takes care of her old parents and does nothing wrong. However, her ghastly father has suppressed her true self so much that writing wicked letters comes to her as a form of catharsis, and she cannot help herself. She looks at Jessie and finds her desires of freedom manifested in a person. She picks up the part of Jessie that is arguably problematic and internalizes it, which results in the abusive letters addressed secretly to herself and the people around them. When Jessie is acquitted from the crime in court, Edith confesses to her that it was not personal; but she couldn’t explain why she did the deed anyway. It is for the viewers to understand that it was her form of rebellion against her father who considered her to be next to nobody.
Turns out, ‘Wicked Little Letters’ is a true story based in Littlehampton. It’s a simple movie made rich by good performances and to-the-point cinematography. Certainly recommended for a one-time watch.
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