Opening an Agatha Christie novel can feel old-fashioned. Perhaps you have found one at the cabin, sun-bleached by past summers; something that entertained your parents in lazy days before technology invaded everything. But in fact, Christie still reigns as the best-selling novelist of all time, with over two billion books sold. PLAYING THE MAIN ROLE HIMSELF: It is the third time Kenneth Branagh directs himself in the role of Hercule Poirot. Photo: 20th Century Studios For those who find this a mystery, greater than any of the mysteries Christie herself concocted, it may be fruitful to look in the direction of her admirers. Not the admirers as in the fans, the readers, no, the ones who go further than that, the ones who try to emulate her. Because they fail almost without exception. And they fail in telling ways. Director and screenwriter Rian Johnson was behind an entertaining Christie tribute with “Knives Out”. But even Johnson had to twist his arm almost out of joint to make the mystery go away. Christie, at least at her best, solves the puzzles effortlessly. ENTERTAINING: “Knives Out” was a good effort, but Christie admirer Rian Johnson had to twist his arm almost out of joint to get the plot going. Photo: Claire Folger This week sees the premiere of “Murder in Venice”, the third film in which Kenneth Branagh plays the Belgian master detective Hercule Poirot. He, of course, directs it himself. But this time he clearly thought that none of Christie’s novels were good enough, and had a plot created from scratch, almost inspired by the Christie novel “Barneselskapet”. The result is a film that moves strangely slowly. The ingredients are well-known from Christie’s universe. We are talking about a secluded mansion, this time in Venice. There are deaths in closed rooms, an event in the past that binds all those present together. But the plot is simpler, and the horror effects more numerous, probably because the film will hit the cinemas during Halloween. There are many close-ups of terrified faces. And it is perhaps the last thing that reveals that “Murder in Venice” is just faux-Christie. MOVED THE PLOT: Kenneth Branagh has moved Agatha Christie’s Poirot to Venice in his latest film, which is only loosely inspired by a Christie novel. Photo: 20th Century Studios What characterizes Agatha Christie’s novels? Perhaps it is not so much about the typical role gallery, as about the attitude to life that comes out in them. The novels are extremely cold-blooded. People experience horrible things, and you’re not supposed to feel anything for them. Here are deep passions, forbidden affairs, gambling madness and secret children, but they only exist as pieces in the puzzle. Those who are killed are killed neatly and decoratively and without the reader witnessing it. Maybe the maid screams a little when she discovers the body, but no one is traumatized for more than an hour or two. In any case, not so much that it is not possible to get over the tea and have a revealing conversation about who is lying about their whereabouts. SUPER DETECTIVE NUMBER TWO: Geraldine McEwan is just one of the actors who portrayed Miss Marple. Photo: Ap And then it’s supposed to be the American crime novel called “hardboiled”? It must be a misunderstanding. The most famous American detectives walk the streets more often in shabby areas, they more often end up in fights. But on the inside they are softer than Miss Marple and Poirot. Haunted by the crimes they have seen, they become depressed and drunk. Christie’s detectives raise their faces in stern folds and say a few witty words about the evils of the world, before carelessly sailing on to the next case. It won’t be that different from the previous one. Precisely this, that the emotions involved are uninteresting, means that neither the author nor the reader need dwell on them. It frees up time and attention to make the mystery itself more complicated and action-packed. And this is where Christie excels, in the ability to trick. She does something with one hand so you don’t notice what she’s doing with the other. QUEEN OF THE CRIME: Agatha Christie has sold over two billion books. Photo: AFP When these murders are generally regarded as pleasant entertainment, it also has to do with politics, or rather the absence of politics. The outside world rarely means anything to anything or anyone in a Christie novel. It’s like they take place in little golden bubbles, centered around a village, or maybe a hotel. The surroundings are pretty and quintessentially British and suitable for arousing nostalgia in both those who are truly British and those who dream of being so. Then Agatha Christie was also an intensely backward-looking person. Her father went bankrupt when she was a child, and much of what she had surrounded herself with growing up was lost. RECORD: No play in the world has run as long as Agatha Christie’s “The Mousetrap” has been performed in London’s West End. Photo: MAX NASH It was perhaps not so surprising that she often indulged in dreams about the past. Then she also married an archaeologist, Max Mallowan, and became an enthusiastic companion for him on various excavation sites in the Middle East. It was a suitable everyday life for someone who enjoyed digging deeper into a mystery better than most. Just not in human nature.
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It’s hard to be as cold as Agatha Christie – Expression
