Review of the detective "Death on the Nile" - a film adaptation of Agatha Christie with a star cast.
A masterfully directed film adaptation of Agatha Christie's novel about a murder on a tourist ship in Egypt.
In 2021, Kenneth Branagh took a break from studio cinema and directed the autobiographical Belfast, which will now compete for an Oscar (and so far looks like the most likely candidate for victory after Power of the Dog). But even earlier, the director shot "Death on the Nile" - the second film in his filmography about the adventures of the mustachioed detective Hercule Poirot. That's just because of the pandemic and the Armie Hammer scandal, the tape was delayed so much that now it seems like a step back for the prestigious author. However, it is not the first time that Brane surprises us with contrasts: after all, this is a person who, after the film adaptation of Shakespeare, can direct Marvel's Thor, be both a respected theatergoer in England with a knighthood and the author of the film Artemis Fowl.
Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh himself), tired of high-profile cases, spends his vacation near the Egyptian pyramids, where he meets his old friend Buk (Tom Bateman). He travels with a stern mother (Annette Bening) and invites the detective to join: they are about to go to a party with newlyweds Simon Doyle (Armie Hammer) and Lynette Ridgway (Gal Gadot). The fun is interrupted by an uninvited guest, Jackie (Emma McKay), Linnet's once girlfriend and Simon's fiancée, whom he left. In a fit of jealousy, she now follows the couple everywhere.
Together with the whole retinue, the newlyweds decide to escape from the annoying girl on a river tour along the Nile - and they invite Poirot with them to "look after" what is happening. But at some point, Jackie appears on the ship, and then one of the passengers is killed, and the most obvious suspect has an ironclad alibi. The criminal is on the ship. And only Hercule Poirot can find out who it is.
With the announcement of Death on the Nile, it became clear that out of Agatha Christie's array of stories about the mustachioed Belgian detective, Branagh is interested in a very specific type of story: ensemble whodunits. Hermetic detectives, where a group of motley characters find themselves in a confined space and are desperately trying to find out which of them is the killer, despite the fact that everyone can find a motive. The author's choice is clear. Firstly, Poirot has a lot of such cases, and the formula can be improved for a very long time. Secondly, these stories create a classical unity of time, place and action: something that the theater-goer Branet understands well and close to. Both the train stuck in the snow and the ship plying the Nile in his hands turn into theatrical stages, one big stage where famous artists understand the intricacies of personal dramas. In this setting, the director feels much more confident than in the fantasy world of Artemis Fowl or the Disney fairy tale Cinderella.
And over time, it seems, his skill in handling Christie's text is growing. Murder on the Orient Express was a worthy adaptation, but seemingly completely optional: a retelling of a familiar story in a glossy wrapper. Death on the Nile seems to follow the same path - without inventing anything new, the film follows the original text more or less verbatim and stuns the viewer with one catchy interior after another. But still, here the detective puzzle is assembled much more elegantly, Branagh works better with little things and is not afraid to be overly expressive: at the key moment, shoot the hero through curved glass and precede each murder with a scene with animals eating each other (although the last one is perhaps too much).
More importantly, it wasn't until the second film that Branagh really hit his character's nerve. In The Murder, Poirot's internal conflicts looked like absolutely superfluous lyrical digressions against the backdrop of a detective intrigue. "Death on the Nile" is framed by the personal tragedy of a hero who lost love during the war and, literally and metaphorically, hides the scars of the past behind his mustache. Even though the director strictly follows the letter of Christie, he seems to be not so interested in the central plot with the search for the killer: moreover, he gives very transparent hints to the attentive viewer at the very beginning of the film. The focus of Death on the Nile is, paradoxically, on life. On the story of a deeply traumatized and closed in himself Poirot, who makes mistakes, crashes and eventually learns to be a man again. And truly Shakespearean passions, and a black-and-white opening in the spirit of "1917" that is out of style, only emphasize Branagh's desire to break out of the musty aesthetics, to look deeper into the hero. Find out who this Hercule is and what pain is hidden behind his cold, calculating mind.
Comments