In ‘The Thursday Murder Club’, cinematography plays a crucial role in softening the narrative of crime, creating an inviting and nostalgic atmosphere that contrasts with traditional dark themes.
How Cinematography in ‘The Thursday Murder Club’ Softens the Crime
The Thursday Murder Club is a cozy murder mystery with a distinct look. Everything from the lavish retirement community’s production design to the comfortable wardrobe supports a softer side of what could have potentially been a grim story. (And I quickly recognized composer Thomas Newman’s playful scoring style, which helps too.)
Plot Overview
The film follows four retirees at the Coopers Chase retirement village whose weekly cold case hobby turns serious when a real murder lands in their laps. The cast is a cavalcade of U.K. stars, including Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley, Celia Imrie, Naomi Ackie, Jonathan Pryce, David Tennant, Richard E. Grant, and more, all of them seemingly having a ball in this romp of a story.
Cinematographic Choices
Cinematographer Don Burgess brought the warm sentiment in via his luxuriant visuals, avoiding the dark, gritty crime look many might expect. While many other modern mystery films tend to go for cooler, desaturated, or harsh lighting to emphasize tension, Burgess used diffused lighting and the softer characteristics of Panaspeed lenses to create flattering skin tones with minimal harsh shadows. The warmth suggests nostalgia and comfort instead.
“Veteran cinematographer Don Burgess gives the visuals the sheen of a Victorian pearl,” TIME Magazine’s review of the film noted.
Their summer shooting schedule in England provided advantages, too. The daylight and garden-filled locations offered a foundation that supported the film’s inviting tone. “Production designer James Merifield gives the settings some country-estate grandeur, and it is all richly photographed by Don Burgess,” The Hollywood Reporter wrote of the film.
Visual Language and Tone
Working with director Chris Columbus on Netflix’s adaptation of Richard Osman’s bestselling novel, Burgess crafted a visual language that transforms a mystery into something welcoming (but not silly). While there are some dark flashbacks and grittier-looking scenes of villainy, Burgess and his collaborators let the idyllic English countryside act as a foundation.
“Visually, we always wanted to keep a rich look to the movie,” he told Panavision. “We didn’t want to light it in a purely comedic way, but rather in a style that carried some edge. The comedy needed to feel natural, drawn from real-life situations instead of slapstick or blatant comedy. Real life is full of both comedy and tragedy, and that’s ultimately what this story is about.”
Post-Production and Final Touches
This was carried into post as well. “They wanted a fairly natural look for the movie,” Corinne Bogdanowicz, supervising colorist, told Panavision. “The look we created had some warmth and creaminess to the high end, and some slight cooling to the low end. It was a filmic, beautiful, natural feeling to enhance a story with such iconic characters.”
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Burgess’ technical choices supported the look. He selected Panavision’s Panaspeed lenses over the sharper Primo 70s because “the Panaspeeds had a little softer look to them. The edges have a bit of softening compared to the Primo 70s, which are really sharp edge to edge,” he told Panavision. “The Primos are great, but with this movie I felt that little bit of softness was more appropriate, for the material and for the cast.”
The contrast was important to the image, too. “The color was what I’d call ‘normal,’ but the contrast became the point of testing—building up the highlights and falloff so the image felt stronger,” Burgess said. They achieved a natural look while also allowing the characters to stand out against their lush surroundings without creating the harsh separations typical in crime thrillers.
The warm, bright cinematography helps suggest that for these characters, retirement doesn’t mean retreat from life or adventure. This isn’t the first murder mystery to play with creative, nostalgic cinematography—Rian Johnson’s Knives Out movies are bright, and so is the original Clue. The series Only Murders in the Building has become a cozy mystery standard, too.
Cinematography can reframe genre expectations. By choosing warmth over darkness and linking the story to community and adventure, Burgess created a visual language that uplifts the mystery and the characters and keeps things light and fun.
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