This space reserved for witty remarks.
Wicked Little Letters (2023) is a psychological examination of the female human psyche, trapped in a patriarchal system that is populated by those so jealous of position and power that they more resemble mobile and erratic volcanoes rather than rational humans. The powerless, then, desiring nothing more than some light recognition, are forced to engage in behaviors of exceptionally dubious social utility in order to engage the desired attention, which in this case consists of writing profane, insulting letters to various residents of the British town of Littlehampton, and then standing back and enjoying the uproar.
Driving the point home is the lone member of the local police who happens to be female, Police Constable Moss. Disregarded and dismissed by Chief Constable Spedding as worthless, Moss decides to return the sentiment and pursues the case on her own initiative, provoking another volcano in the person of said leader of the police. Eventually, Moss enlists, informally, a gang of women to entrap the perpetrator, while also extinguishing both volcanoes.
Perhaps unexpectedly, in the meantime another woman has been arrested, imprisoned, and is now on trial. Her behavior is certainly not above reproach, but it’s worth noting her lack of repression; the imputed irrationality is unbelievable, and must be disregarded by all the men sitting in judgment, officially or not.
Will justice be done? What is justice, after all? All this and more in this tale that purports to be based on a real historical incident.
