The output of Death on the Nile (VF of Death on the Nile) by Kenneth Branagh, a new adaptation of the famous novel by Agatha Christie, has been postponed seven times. First there were delays on set. Then the pandemic got involved. Finally, last March, rape charges were brought against Armie Hammer (Call Me By Your Name), who holds one of the main roles of the feature film.
Before showing this “obligatory suite” at the Murder on the Orient Express (released in 2017 and directed by the same team, the film was lukewarm by critics, but grossed 353 million), you had to let the water (of the Nile) flow under the bridges and wish that it was enough to wash the discomfort that may be caused by the presence of the actor on the screen. Another fine case of “should we separate the man from the artist? », but let’s say that it is difficult here to disregard current events — especially since the nature of the character embodied by the artist does not serve the man.
Death on the Nile, it should be remembered, tells one of these love triangles of which Agatha Christie, perhaps inspired by her own marital setbacks, had the secret. Here, it consists of Simon Doyle (Armie Hammer), who we discover engaged to Jacqueline de Bellefort (Emma Mackey, of Sex Education) then, six weeks later, married to the latter’s best friend, the wealthy Linnet Ridgeway (Gal Gadot, alias Wonder Woman). All these beautiful people are soon boarding the SS Karnak to sail on the Nile. Also present, a plethora of men and women who have scores to settle with the new bride. And Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh). It is not a coincidence. Blood will flow.
A cast where diversity takes precedence, the addition of certain characters and the transformation of certain others, a few more nervous and tight twists and the elimination of at least one major implausibility add modernity and “realism” to the plot that Agatha Christie published in 1937 and which was first adapted to the cinema in 1978.
Peter Ustinov was impeccable as Poirot in this film by John Guillermin which marked memories with its star-studded cast (Bette Davis, Olivia Hussey, Mia Farrow, Maggie Smith, David Niven, Angela Lansbury, Jane Birkin), with its splendid images ( it was filmed in Egypt) and because it was very faithful to the tone of the queen of crime… and therefore to her little Belgian detective with overactive gray cells.
To be or not to be Poirot?
This is much less the case with this new version, whose cinematography and special effects are variable geometry, whose distribution is less flamboyant than that of the Murder on the Orient Express and where Poirot suddenly takes himself for a man of action (what?!). Where these two works converge—and not for the better—is in the fact that the essence of Agatha Christie has been replaced by that of William Shakespeare, which runs through the veins of Kenneth Branagh. and often colors his work with a heaviness that is not always appropriate. But Agatha Christie knew how to breathe humor, almost lightness, into even her most twisted stories. Especially in the presence of Hercule Poirot.
With the complicity of screenwriter Michael Green, the British filmmaker had begun to torture the detective in The Crime of the East–Express where, in moments of doubt (!), he turned to the photo of a young woman while murmuring a painful “Katherine”.
Katherine, who we learn more about here, with the film beginning with a black-and-white flashback. We are in 1914. Hercule Poirot is a young soldier fighting in the trenches. His gray cells are already alert: by simple deduction, he saves his battalion from carnage. A very strong moment, but of no use to the story, except to “justify” many later reflections on love – the nature of love, the importance of love; in short, the love of love—which plagues the story.
In fact, this opening scene turns out to be the first part of a digression which closes at the very end of the feature film and which, roughly speaking, tells the “story of the origins” of… the famous detective’s mustache. A parenthesis, therefore, which tints the whole film with tragedy, serving Branagh and Shakespeare, but having nothing to do with Christie and Poirot.