A.B.C. Murders – a movie review

by The Flamingo

The Belgian detective is one of my favorite fictional characters, I just love the way Agatha Christie imagined him with all his quirks, peculiarities and his little grey cells. He is definitely not a perfect character, very insufferable at times, but always reliable, empathetic and caring. The British actor David Suchet will always remain in my opinion emblematic as Poirot, while portraying him in the famous BBC series.

Maybe I am not the most objective person writing a review regarding this film, given my attachment to the books and the original BBC “Poirot” series or given my everlasting, unexplained antipathy towards poor John Malkovich. However, I do have a lot of mixed feelings bottled up after watching this three episodes mini-series. These feelings need expressing in order to better make sense of them. So I will try reviewing without any spoilers…because what’s a murder mystery with giveaways?!

This is a very dramatic interpretation of the book and the characters. The writers wanted to add many layers to the story and to Poirot. These layers are, however, not fully consistent with the writing style of Christie, but the truth is, they wanted and needed something different from what was made until now. The natural dramatic characters of the author, with all their troubles and desires, expectations and reality, receive a new layer of pathetic and bizarre in this movie. Each and every one of them, from the detective and policemen to the victims and suspects, are pitiful and sorrowful, so much so that it leaves a very heavy feeling even days after watching it. Those characters don’t even crack a genuine smile throughout the story. It’s that tragic! This adaptation is full of obsessive and redundant scenes, just to increase the distress and the drama.

Apart from the tragic content, another characteristic of the film is the aesthetic of ugliness. In my opinion this is a very unique feature for murder mystery film. It makes it more real, although unbearable at times. This totally robs the story of that golden age “Downton Abbey” feel, or adds a different perspective to it…a not so pretty one, but very realistic nonetheless.

The film also tackles contemporary problems, like immigration and the wish of some British people to separate themselves from the immigrants. In the books there is also an issue with Poirot not being English, which becomes one of the central points addressed in this movie.

Hercule Poirot is portrayed in a different way than in the books; the very “John Malkovich style” is as dramatic as it gets. The writers created a totally different past from the original story, just to increase the tragedy and they altered parts of his personality just to bring him on the verge of the ridicule. The words I used at the beginning of the article are very accurate in describing this Poirot: “disgraced, derided, reviled”. He’s a Poirot whose mustache dye is running down his chin, who travels second class, who has a very dark and stern apartment, who holds on dearly to his last shred of dignity, with no friends, a very lonely Poirot. Everybody has forgotten about him, but actually the main problem is they think him an impostor. This is the premise of the story, I won’t reveal any more though.

The movie is full of surprises, for both readers of the book and the ones who don’t know the story at all. So it’s definitely worth watching and it’s really satisfying at the end. My advice is not to give up on it, it’s a really good mini series, although it’s so dark. John Malkovich, as always, is impeccable in his role he and the writers created. I can appreciate a new Poirot, maybe not to my taste, but I would really like to see more remakes of Agatha Christie with him in the center.

I recommend the movie to all of Poirot fans and non fans…I think the approach is special and entertaining. As a perk for all of you out there who liked the Harry Potter movies, you get to see a very grown up Ron Weasley playing the Chief-Inspector. Chin-chin!

Photo credit IMDB.com