Desdemona Holland is a character featured in the 2023 film A Haunting in Venice, based on the 1969 novel "Hallowe'en Party" by Agatha Christie. She is portrayed by English actress Emma Laird, who also plays her twin brother Nicholas Holland in the film.
Background[]
Desdemona is a Romani refugee who works as an assistant to Joyce Reynolds. She and her brother fled from their homeland after their parents were killed by Nazi soldiers during World War II. They were taken in by Mrs. Reynolds, a medium who conducts seances for wealthy clients. She taught them how to fake paranormal phenomena and scam people out of their money.
In the film, Desdemona and Nicholas accompany Mrs. Reynolds to a seance at the palazzo of Rowena Drake, a famous opera singer whose daughter Alicia committed suicide. The seance is attended by detective Hercule Poirot, novelist Ariadne Oliver, and several other guests who have a connection to Alicia's death. During the seance, Mrs. Reynolds claims to channel Alicia's spirit and reveals that she was murdered by someone in the room. Mrs. Reynolds is later found dead, impaled on a statue in the courtyard.
Poirot begins to investigate the murder and discovers that Desdemona and Nicholas are not related to Mrs. Reynolds, but are her accomplices in the fraud. He also learns that they have a personal motive for being at the seance: they are Alicia's biological siblings, who were separated from her at birth when their mother gave her up for adoption. They came to Venice to find their sister but arrived too late to save her from being killed by her fiancé, Maxime Gerard, who wanted to inherit her fortune.
Desdemona and Nicholas decide to take revenge on Maxime and the others who were involved in Alicia's death. They use their skills to create fake supernatural effects to terrorize the guests and make them believe that Alicia's ghost is haunting them. They also kill Dr. Leslie Ferrier, who helped Maxime cover up Alicia's murder and attempt to kill Poirot and Oliver, who are getting closer to the truth. However, their plan is foiled when Poirot exposes them as the killers and reveals their true identity as Alicia's siblings.
He also tells them that Alicia did not commit suicide, but was pushed off the balcony by Maxime, who then staged it as a suicide. Desdemona and Nicholas are shocked and devastated by this revelation and beg Poirot to let them go. Poirot agrees to let them escape but warns them that they will never find peace until they forgive themselves and others for what happened. Desdemona and Nicholas flee from the palazzo and board a boat that takes them away from Venice. They embrace each other and vow to start a new life together, free from hatred and violence.
Trivia[]
- Desdemona Holland is a complex and sympathetic character who represents the themes of trauma, loss, revenge, and redemption in the film.
- She is also one of the few characters who can see through Poirot's facade of cynicism and challenge his views on faith and humanity.
- In the original book, Desmond Holland is a teenage boy who is friends with Nicholas Ransom and for the party created a set up where they took pictures of girls' future husbands (really just himself and Nicholas in make up).
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