The Mystery of Mr E (2023) is the cinematic experience that perfectly describes the words mystery, melodrama, along with lies and in a more romantic essence, it is all wrapped well into a single film. The film is, as if, structured like a grand chess game with all the players, the pieces on board, every character playing their assigned role and at the center, a triangular picturesque whose multiple perspectives are bundled by deceit.
Tension is built up through the trailer where sharp dialogues and features of Idlewyld House which is elegantly haunted can be seen. At first glance, they surely are stiffing. Exactly as the audience is able to be cornered into this high intensity environment from the start. The concept of suspense in this film, increases when the sounds of musical instruments do.
The story is developed around twin brothers named John and George Danes who happen to be highly skilled investigators and are known as “the generalists”, witnesses of tension are then carved by Mr. E who is portrayed by Kevin Dixon. However, Miss E’s famous one liner – “I am the murderer” is what ultimately disrupts the calm of the brothers and consequently triggers what they have been waiting for, going to “idle wyld house” which happens to be a massive estate which surely has secrets waiting to be uncovered.
The cast appears to be well-endowed with talents. The central character in this story, whose spirit I would presume hangs over the narrative is Harriet Landrigan played by Nicola Wright. Other events are just as multi-faceted and enigmatic as the relatives of the family, Peter (Martyn Spendlove) and Clemency (Anna Macleod Franklin), who were struggling to make sense of it all. A visitor to the cottage Karl Vadaszffy’s Anders presents a refreshing twist to the account while the other occupants and patrons of the house have their own mix of ominous memories which makes the webs of alibis and motives rather elaborate for the Danes brothers to disentangle.
The drama takes a turn for the worse when someone’s corpse gets discovered and the entire area is marred in confusion. The investigation which had started passive, now turns active as the Danes rummage through childhood secrets imagining demystified counterparts of themselves. Music shifts its essence in this instance, mutating into a character of sorts armed with the emotive score of Annette Armitage and Christopher John Collier to narrate fears and truths left un della for too long. The songs are not only well-established but they are also sort of interludes elaborating on the action taking place and adding a new layer of emotion to the tale.
Director Martyn Tott along with writer Sophie Hannah have created an interesting narrative which is also captivating. As new clues arise, the associations of Mr. E with Landrigan family become clearer and clearer, culminating in a finale which is wholesome and astonishing.
