I just watched a gem of a movie called Wicked Little Letters. The film is based on a true story about a hate mail scandal that occurred in the 1920’s in Littlehampton, England. A pious English woman named Edith Swan accuses her foul-mouthed Irish neighbor, Rose Gooding, of sending her obscene mail. Olivia Colman expertly plays the holier-than-thou Edith. Jessie Buckley, as Rose, provides a feisty counterpoint to Edith’s piety. Anjana Vasan plays Gladys Mosby. Her official title is “Woman Police Inspector.” To no avail, Mosby insists that everyone just call her “Police Inspector,” but they never do.  Of all the law enforcement folks, she is the only one who cares about finding the real perpetrator.  Vasan’s comedic timing is a joy to observe. Her contemptuous eye rolling occurs at precisely the right moments. Timothy Spall plays the despicable Mr. Swan, Edith’s crotchety father. The man’s face is comprised of a thousand wrinkles, each one forming a frown. He appears not to have one redeemable quality.

            The chief inspector of Littlehampton, his minions, and most of the townspeople do not care whether Rose is guilty of sending lewd letters. They hate the raucous way Rose speaks and behaves. She doesn’t conform to their social norms and that’s crime enough for them. Although she’s the single parent of a young child, they’re all happy enough to send her off to prison.

            Plenty of sparks fly on screen in the form of the scathing missives sent to Edith and verbal forays between Rose and any other human she comes across. If you hate hearing naughty words, this may not be the movie for you. However, the swearing is creatively weird and is written/spoken in British slang, so it seems more benign than awful. Of course, I might have a different reaction if I knew what the words meant.

            This cast has great chemistry. I loved scenes between Edith and her father, Edith and Rose, the Woman Police Inspector and her moronic superiors, and three quirky townswomen who cook up a scheme to help Rose. You can tell the actors are having a great time. And, as a viewer, I felt invited to the party.

Given the language, this is not a good candidate for family movie night with the little ones, unless you want them to learn how to master swearing in a different dialect. However, grownups would find this film both entertaining and thought-provoking.