00:00An 11-year-old girl discovers that she has a talent for sleuthing in Sky Cinema's family
00:04mystery, Flavia. Molly Bell writes Flavia is a young chemist, following in the footsteps
00:09of her mother Harriet, played by Hannah New, who went missing during the Second World War.
00:13When Flavia finds a man murdered on their property, her father, Haviland, played by
00:17Martin Freeman, is arrested by Toby Jones, Inspector Hewitt, forcing Flavia to try and
00:22clear his name.
00:24So this is adapted from the Flavia de Luz book series written by Alan Bradley, specifically
00:28the first entry, The Sweetness, at the bottom of the pie, and this clearly does have the
00:32potential to be a franchise, if successful, given there's 11 books to date.
00:36It's another example of the modern resurgence of the murder mystery, given the success of
00:40Knives Out, The Thursday Murder Club, and a recent spate of Agatha Christie adaptations,
00:45and it's obviously intended to be an introduction for kids, well, slightly older ones at least.
00:51As you would expect from something aimed at young viewers, the exposition here can be
00:55quite heavy to make sure that the intended audience is keeping up with all of the plot
00:59points, and the mystery itself isn't especially complex, so obviously more sophisticated detectives
01:04will likely figure it out.
01:06Tone can also be a bit of an issue, as it does play like a movie made for children, especially
01:11with a protagonist and the fact that she bickers with her older sisters, but it is also a movie
01:16that can get a bit macabre at times, given that people do die, and she does have a fixation
01:21with poisoning. But for the most part, it's a breezily-like movie in the vein of something
01:25like Enola Holmes, with a playful wink of the conventions of the whodunit in a way that's
01:30cosy and familiar, and Flavia often pointing them out as she breaks the fourth wall.
01:35Despite the opening flashback in Egypt with Flavia's parents as spies, the film is otherwise
01:39on a relatively small scale, and that's probably for the best given that rare bits of CGI do look
01:45especially wonky. Director Barrett Naluri has largely worked in television. His biggest
01:50film credits are on The Man Who Invented Christmas and Miss Pettigrew list for a day, and he hams
01:55the movie constantly, even if it does have a bit of a televisual feeling, perhaps appropriately
02:00for a film headed directly for streaming. As you'd expect, Martin Freeman as Flavia's
02:05stamp collector father and Toby Jones' not-too-bright inspector provide reliable support, as does
02:11Jonathan Price as Freeman's old headmaster, but the adult stars only appear intermittently.
02:17Really, this film belongs to Molly Bell Wright, who carries much of this film by herself, and I
02:22thought she gave an impressive performance in the title role, being charmingly precocious as she runs
02:27around and gets herself in trouble. It helps that the script gives her plenty of amusing dialogue,
02:31kick him in the Casanovas being a particular highlight, and Wright might well be one to look
02:35out for in the future. It's slight, but Flavia is entertaining for the whole family, whether it's with
02:40tea and a biscuit, or a jammy dodger and a carton of orange juice, and I'd be happy to see
02:45them make more of these.
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