Blithe Spirit (2020 film)
Blithe Spirit is a 2020 British supernatural comedy film set in the late 1930s, directed by Edward Hall in his feature film debut, and starring Dan Stevens, Leslie Mann, Isla Fisher, Judi Dench, Emilia Fox, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Adil Ray, Michele Dotrice, and Aimee-Ffion Edwards. Based upon the 1941 comic farce play of the same name by Noël Coward, the film is a significantly reworked adaptation for the screen by Nick Moorcroft, Meg Leonard, and Piers Ashworth. This is the second feature film adaptation of Coward's play after the 1945 version directed by David Lean.
Blithe Spirit had its world premiere at the 2020 Mill Valley Film Festival, and was released in the United Kingdom on 15 January 2021. The film received generally negative reviews from critics.
Plot summary
In 1937, one-time successful playwright Charles Condomine is suffering from depression and writer's block that is affecting his five-year marriage to Ruth. After a performance by popular medium Madame Arcati ends in fiasco, as a kind of publicity act, the medium performs a private séance at the Condomines' home and accidentally summons the ghost of his wilful and temperamental first wife, Elvira, who died in the house seven years prior.It transpires that Elvira was behind much of Charles's creative writing — her absence is the reason for his inability to produce anything new. Conflict follows as Elvira's spirit becomes jealous of Ruth, Charles's new wife, and she attempts to drive Ruth away. Charles now has to balance between the two women, and protect Ruth from Elvira as he is the only one who can actually see her.
Production
In May 2019, it was announced Dan Stevens, Isla Fisher, and Judi Dench had joined the cast of the film, with Edward Hall directing from a screenplay by Piers Ashworth, Meg Leonard and Nick Moorcroft. In June 2019, Leslie Mann, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Emilia Fox, Dave Johns and James Fleet joined the cast of the film.Principal photography began near Sydney in June 2019.