Miss Fisher & The Crypt Of Tears (2020) - Movie Review

Time to get into another cinematic continuation of an Aussie TV show that my overseas readers likely won’t have heard of, and despite me working on more local ground, I’m about as familiar with the source material as they are. Aside from vague memories of seeing my nan watching it out of the corner of my eye, I have no experience with the escapades of 1920s-era detective Phryne Fisher.

However, over the last few years, I’ve taken definite notice of lead actor Essie Davis as one of the best Australian actors working today, between her phenomenal turns in The Babadook and True History Of The Kelly Gang. As such, familiarity or no familiarity, I knew I wanted to check this out.

The rationality behind that decision starts to crack pretty quickly, though, as this is easily the weakest of the Aussie TV adaptations I’ve covered to date. It barely passes for cinema-grade, between the perpetually iffy green-screening, the TV-grade camera work from DOP Roger Lanser, and an initial train chase scene that is one of the biggest red flag openings I’ve seen in a while because it doesn’t set expectations high for the hour-and-a-half that follows.

But as for the innards of the production, namely the period detail, it’s actually handled pretty well. The minimum that these kinds of productions should achieve is bigger scope afforded by the (hopefully) increased budget, and since Miss Fisher is now globetrotting, that manages to hold up. Ditto for the costume design, which gets well-used since I’m fairly certain Miss Fisher changes costume between every scene, and it really boosts the glamour of the lead.

Maybe it’s because I’ve come to associate Essie Davis with really heavy and hard-to-watch productions, but I find myself quite grateful to see her in something a bit lighter while still pulling off the character. There’s a tangible charisma and grace to her performance, and by extension the character, that just pulled in my attention. It took remarkably little time for me to get the appeal of the character and there being a pre-existing property and fanbase for said property centred on her. She is really damn fun.

Fun and firmly tongue-in-cheek, which is basically the tone of the entire production, both technically and textually. Given how Palestine is a main locale for the story, the idea of this being as light as it is could have gone disastrously wrong (that, and the white saviour narrative involved), but it somehow keeps it consistently without feeling off. That’s likely because every production hand is on the same page tonally, from Deb Cox’s incredibly cheesy writing to Greg Walker’s amazingly smart-arse musical compositions, not to mention Tony Tilse’s actor direction that locks the film in this retro lane that makes the kitschy tone at least feel like there’s a reason for being here.

I don’t know how much of this is part-and-parcel for the original show (or even the novels that was based on) or if it’s all-new shit, so I can’t properly gauge if the usual rule of these films being made strictly for the fans has positive results here. And admittedly, I found myself blanking out a few times while watching it because the main story isn’t all that… involved, let’s say. But for a frothy bit of mystery fiction, backed by mostly solid actors and quite beautiful costuming, it’s an alright sit. I just hope that the fans that helped crowdfund it liked what they got.