Wicked Little Letters (2024) is one of those movies that brings joy simply because it unleashes the small ball of energy that we often conceal to maintain decorum. Filled with ludicrous language just for the heck of it, this British black comedy was inspired by real-life figures from the scandalous events of the 1920s in Littlehampton that involved poison pen letters.
Directed by Thea Sharrock (Me Before You), the insanely mouthful comedy film stars our beloved Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley, who are in great form as their respective characters. What starts off as an investigative narrative uses its comedic chops to also deal with what it’s like to live as a woman in a patriarchy. The control and punishment stressed upon these women can only be dealt with by the viciousness that comes out of their mouths and pens. Jessie Buckley is especially outstanding as the foul-mouthed Rose Gooding, while Olivia Colman’s Edith seems polar opposite but with a repressed conviction that’s waiting for an outlet.
In this article, I dissect the film and explain what happens during its runtime. Please note that the article contains spoilers; reader discretion is advised.
Wicked Little Letters (2023) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
The story is set in a small town called Littlehampton in England in 1920. We meet Edith Swan (Olivia Colman), her father, Edward (Timothy Spall), and her mother, Victoria (Gemma Jones), sitting together in distress upon receiving letter number 19 containing horrendous insults addressed to Edith. Edward is fed up with these letters and immediately calls in Police Constable Papperwick (Hugh Skinner), where Edward accuses Rose Gooding (Jessie Buckley), their foul-mouthed neighbor next door.
Rose is an Irish migrant who, after her husband’s passing in the war, moved to the town with her only daughter, Nancy (Alisha Weir). Everyone in the town is well aware of Rose’s eccentric personality, which includes swearing at the drop of a hat. The language used in the letters is very similar to how Rose talks, and Edward is certain that she has been sending these anonymous letters to trouble them. Constable Papperwick also believes that Rose is responsible for this misconduct and even suggests Edith visit the station for a statement. He then later visits the local pub to arrest Rose for the accused crime.
What was it like to be living in Littlehampton in 1920?
The time and place “Wicked Little Letters” is set in is ironically no different than the current state of most women in the world we live in. However, keeping in mind the period of the film, Littlehampton is a scanty town where everyone is in everyone else’s business. The townspeople love these juicy developments in and around their neighborhood, and anything that would lead a woman one step above a man is deeply frowned upon.
To get to know our characters better, Edith, for instance, is a middle-aged woman still living with her devout Christian family, where her father makes the decisions for them all. She has no opinion on anything and is instantly disregarded and gaslighted if she happens to speak up for herself.
A woman in this town is only respected if she is devout, poised, and ladylike, with no opinion whatsoever, and any woman (here, it is particularly Rose) who is any different would be slut-shamed. Similarly, a woman in a position of power (police officer Gladys Moss) is mocked and never taken seriously for having a smart penchant for doing her job right. Imagine being a police officer and enduring the daily taunts Officer Moss (Anjana Vasan) has to bear every single day at her work.
Why did Edith and Rose have a fallout?
Anyway, the following day, Edith comes to the station for a statement, and we learn that the two women were once close friends despite their different personalities. However, things quickly changed when Rose refused to apologize after head-butting one of Edward’s close guests at his birthday party. When the child protection services visited Rose one day to check up on the condition Nancy lives in with her mother, Rose believed that Edith called in the CPS as revenge for not apologizing to the family, and that is when the letters started coming in the Swan residence.
Chief Constable Spedding and Constable Papperwick ignore Officer Moss’s suggestions for wrongly arresting Rose on just the basis of her character, and Rose is soon sent to Portsmouth Prison until the trial begins. Moss does a little investigation on her own and realizes that the handwriting in the letter is a little too peculiar compared to Rose’s simple handwriting. However, upon presenting the idea to Constable Spedding, Moss gets a warning against getting involved with the case.
Who bails Ross out of the prison?
We see Moss visiting Edith, who has been basking in the recent popularity after being featured in multiple newspapers regarding the ongoing investigation. Moss decides to question Edith about Rose and the letters and even meets her friends – Ann (Joanna Scanlan), Mabel (Eileen Atkins), and Kate (Lolly Adefope) at the Women’s Whist Club. While we see how Kate is very sympathetic towards Edith’s miseries from the letters, Ann and Mabel, on the other hand, believe Rose is not guilty despite being an outright wild character. Back at the prison, Rose is surprised to see Ann and Mabel bailing her out, admitting they like her for who she really is, leading Edith to feel betrayed by her friends for supporting the woman who caused chaos to her and the town.
Just when Rose is settling back into her life with her current partner, Bill, and her daughter, things get spicy again with the latest letter at the Swans. Edward gets furious at Rose, and as Bill tries to stand up for her, another woman comes charging toward Rose, stating that she also received a foul language letter. Soon, the entire town receives a letter, and even Chief Constable Spedding is fed up with it. Rose visits Officer Moss for help, who agrees to interview her to know her side of the story in order to prove her innocence.
Who wrote the letters and why?
Back at the Swans’, Edward becomes infuriated with Edith’s recent feature in the newspaper and gaslights her for enjoying the press attention and becoming the townspeople’s latest gossip. He commands her to write a verse from the Bible 200 times, warning her of worse consequences if she refuses. Edith goes to her room, and while respecting her father’s order, something strikes her. She tiptoes towards the corner of her room and takes out a secret box well hidden inside the wall. She opens the box, revealing a collage of all the newspaper articles written about notorious pen letters.
It turns out that Edith has been writing these letters to herself, using vulgar profanities as an expression to vent out piled-up emotions from repressed anger due to her father’s overbearing and obsessively compulsive controlling nature. Having a conflicted personality due to her repressed life, Edith writes these letters as a means of gaslighting herself for not being able to stand up for herself. The latest episode with her father leads to another secretive, rageful outburst, resulting in Edith writing another letter and mailing it to herself. However, this time, her mother reads the letter, leading to her demise due to a heart attack from severe stress.
Why does Moss get fired from the investigation?
When Officer Moss requests Edith to sign the death certificate, she recognises the letter “G” written in a particular style similar to the one written in the ‘wicked letters’. Moss uses this as evidence and yet again presents the idea in front of Spedding, who belligerently suspends her for interfering with the investigation despite his warnings.
Moss, determined to crack the case, approaches Ann to discreetly help with the investigation. The duo plans on catching Edith posting the letters in the mailbox. A day before the trial, while hanging out with Nancy at the ice cream parlor, Rose notices the letter ‘G’ written in the same fashion as the letters and confronts Edith in front of her friends, stating that she knows who is behind the letters.
During the trial, Rose is questioned about her actions, and she denies everything, stating why she would risk her life by writing the letters, knowing that it would lead her to jail. The counsel then calls Edith to the stand and accuses her of having similar handwriting to the letters. However, the court is more interested in why Rose lied about her husband dying in World War I with no proven records, even suggesting her daughter was born out of wedlock.
Wicked Little Letters (2024) Movie Ending Explained:
Is Moss able to catch Edith red-handed?
Meanwhile, Edith is triggered by her father yet again when she confronts him for sending away the only man she ever loved. Edward manipulates and gaslights her again, claiming she is incompetent to have any kind of emotions or opinions for herself and insisting that she will not go anywhere, leaving him behind. The following day, Moss and Ann follow Edith in order to catch her red-handed. Moss creates an invisible ink to be used on a stamp and gives them to Kate, who works at the postal office, ensuring Edith buys them.
On the other hand, Rose runs away from her house when the police go to arrest her. On her way to find a safe spot, Rose stumbles upon Edith, who is just about to post a letter to the judge. Rose notices Moss down the street and starts provoking Edith, who ends up talking profanely and dropping the letter in the mailbox. However, when the street is busy with Rose getting caught by the police, Moss comes in and opens the mailbox to finally catch the evidence red-handed. Moss then uses a chemical to reveal Edith’s stamp name, exposing her in front of everyone, leading Spedding to give the handcuffs to Moss to finally arrest Edith.
Why did Edith target Rose?
The ending of Wicked Little Letters (2024) concludes with Edith finally getting imprisoned for her notorious crimes and Rose returning to her old life. However, on their way out, when Rose questions why Edith chose her, Edith has no explanation except that she could not stop when she first started to write those letters.
While being escorted to the prison cart, Edward promises Edith to help her, but Edith ends up giving him a piece of her mind in the most hilarious outburst of profanity one could ever think of, stating that she is never getting back to him. In the end sequence, right before the credits roll, we find out that while Edith was sentenced to 12 months of hard labor, Rose was never charged with another crime, and Moss had her own plaque in Littlehampton, signifying that she managed to make a name for herself, beyond her father’s shadow.
![Woman on the Run [1950] Review – Shady Figures and a Marriage in Shambles](https://www.highonfilms.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Woman-on-the-Run-1950-768x432.jpg)
![Lost in Translation [2003] Review: A Doomed Romance](https://www.highonfilms.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/e29dc29c27a0916f9635c456a6290cc3-768x416.jpg)