Mystery in Venice: a behind-the-scenes video of the haunted palazzo

Kenneth Branagh wanted to create a setting that was both “fascinating and disturbing”.

Mystery in Venicethe new investigation of Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh, also director of the film) is currently in cinemas. And a featurette takes us behind the scenes of the creation of the decor and especially the famous palazzo haunted in which the investigation takes place.

Kenneth Branagh explains that he wanted to film an aspect of Venice “which transports you and disturbs you, both fascinating and disturbing”. Indeed, the palazzo being the central setting of the film, it absolutely had to reflect this desire of the filmmaker while properly serving the needs of the plot. A place that Branagh describes as “bewitching”. John Paul Kelly, the production designer even goes so far as to define the palazzo as a character in its own right in the film.

The actors are not left out regarding this unique setting. Kyle Allen who plays Maxime Gerard describes the palazzo like a placeterrifying, menacing and interesting, to good effect.” The actress Tina Fey who plays Ariadne Oliver explains that “this decor, you can really walk around like in a house” which is in line with the desire to Branagh to make the environment of his film “a real 360 degree world”, according to John Paul Kelly. All competition to make Venetian setting a real cinema experience, mixing gothic haunted place and trap suitable for a Poirot investigation.

This third investigation by Hercule Poirot signed Kenneth Branagh (After The crime of the Orient Express And Murder on the Nile), takes place shortly after the Second World War, in Venice, on All Saints’ Eve. Poirot has retired, but a friend of his, Ariadne Oliver, a famous novelist, asks him to accompany her to a seance in a supposedly haunted palazzo. While a murder takes place during the session, everyone present is suspect and Poirot must resume his role as detective in spite of himself. Mystery in Venice is currently in theaters.