Liverpool Sound and Vision * * * *

Cast: Jessie Buckley, Olivia Colman, Hugh Skinner, Timothy Spall, Anjana Vasan, Lolly Adefope, Eileen Atkins, Alisha Weir, Joanna Scanlan, Jason Watkins, Gemma Jones, Malachi Kirby, Richard Goulding, Paul Chahidi, Grant Crookes, Adam Treasure, Jamie Chapman, Susie Fairfax, Ryan Mann, Neil Fox-Roberts, Paul A Munday.

The act of a keyboard warrior who takes great delight in taking down people online is one of extreme cowardice, the mark of the scoundrel; but it is not one that is new to us in society, and since the advent of communication, since the ability to send letters in near anonymity, the scope of bringing distress and harm to others has been more invasive, terrible, cruel, and even pushed many to a place where death/suicide is an outcome the, the cowards, are hoping for.

There is a long history of the poison pen letter in communication history, the implement daring to say what the coward could not, would not because they assume an air of respectability that would not be questioned by the very society structure that aided and abetted the belief that some people are incapable of doing wrong thanks to dogma of class.

It is perhaps to one of the more fascinating cases in English legal history that the film Wicked Little Letters does not shy away from the use of explosive profanity to drive home the message of a collective state of mental unwellness derived from the nagging remains of war, social dominance, and the use of a patriarchy between wars that was struggling to maintain the status quo.

It is with a certainty that when the complaint against the patriarchy is mentioned in today’s breath there can be an excuse for many to roll their eyes with exasperation, but in truth the machine is one that was rampant until the 1970s and in between the wars was one that the progressive wins that had been found in World War One was on the verge of collapse by the majority  of men of Littlehampton who as the film places in detail were a microcosm of the general feeling of superiority and the state of class persistence that revelled in for example certain newspapers falling over backwards to paint Edith Swan as a just and virtuous god fearing woman.

The truth is set down that nothing has altered when it comes to dealing a quick swift kick to those who do not deserve it, that we praise to the high hills those that carry and espouse virtue whilst being demonic in their actions. It is the high price of this that becomes addictive, a need to be constantly in the press and seen as figure of responsibility. As with modern day use of arguing in a forum or offering a statement of untruth in the knowledge it will gain traction because the words carry your ‘worthy weight’ so Wicked Little Letters understands the inherent dangers of addiction in terms of being lauded for virtue when in fact your actions decree that you are a devil in human form.

The film itself is bright, clever, a profanity laden exercise in glory, and there is arguably no two female actors in the world today who can justify that exercise than the marvellously entertaining Jessie Buckley and Olivia Colman.

Each play on their character and against each other with a sense of underlaying fun, and despite the horrible and guilt laden taint to the story, there is a smile that comes out of this picture, and especially with the ferocity that Joanna Scanlon, Anjana Vasan, Eileen Atkins, and Timothy Spall bring in their respective roles.

England, Britain, between the wars was a curious place, the model of respectability caught up in the drama of the veneer mask having slipped, the proud Victorian and Edwardian stance truly demolished and shown to be as weak as the statue extolled by Shelley, a country made of clay fawning at the feet of church and state where the upper class and the middle-class supporters could do no wrong.

A quirky but brilliantly produced film and a mirror to the society of today who use their own sense of class and virtue for likes and sympathy where none is to be found.

Ian D. Hall