Wicked Little Letters (2023), directed by Thea Sharrock

Edith Swan is a good Christian woman, dutifully living with her elderly parents in the English coastal town of Littlehampton just after WWI. She has been receiving hateful poison pen letters, filled with foul and abusive language, and the police are called in. The main suspect is the next door neighbour, widowed mother Rose Gooding, who is Irish and drinks and swears and consorts with men. It’s an open and shut case for the local plod, and Rose is headed for jail, but trailblazing Woman Police Officer Gladys Moss suspects there is more to it. She calls on the ingenuity of local women to nail the real culprit and see justice served. Based on a true story, the film gives a funny and insightful look at the restricted lives of women in a patriarchal society that is about to change, Olivia Coleman and Jessie Buckley are wonderful as the frenemies Edith and Rose, two women who seem to have little in common but are similarly confined by roles and expectations and respond in very different ways. Anjana Vasan makes a composed WPC and the supporting cast is stellar, featuring Timothy Spall and Gemma Jones as Edith’s parents, Eileen Atkins, Lolly Adefope and Pam Ferris as helpful local characters and Matilda’s Alisha Weir as Rose’s daughter. This is a warm and thoughtful film that depicts women in all their shades, not just black and white.