After “Murder on the Orient Express” and “Death on the Nile”, Kenneth Branagh once again adapts an Agatha Christie novel, and finds the costume of Hercule Poirot. “Mystery in Venice” has been in theaters since Wednesday.
What is it about ? Venice, All Saints’ Eve, a few years after the end of the Second World War. This is where the famous detective Hercule Poirot, now retired, now lives. After devoting his life to solving crimes and witnessing the worst in human beings, he gave up his vocation as an investigator. And if he does everything to avoid being confronted with criminal cases, they are often the ones who catch up with him…
Poirot receives at his home an old friend, Ariadne Oliver, the greatest writer of detective novels in the world, who assures him that the reason for his visit has nothing to do with a crime: she would like him to accompany her to a screening. spiritualism and allows him to prove that it is an imposture. Intrigued, Poirot reluctantly agrees to attend and then finds himself in a decrepit and supposedly haunted palace belonging to the famous singer Rowena Drake. When one of the participants is brutally murdered, everyone present becomes a potential suspect. The Belgian detective once again finds himself immersed in a sinister world of shadows and secrets…
The Halloween Crime
First published in 1969, The Halloween Crime by Agatha Christie belongs to the series of works led by Hercule Poirot. This novel was originally titled The Pumpkin Festival. It was during its reissue in 1999 that it changed its title.
If Mystery in Venice is adapted from Halloween crimescreenwriter Michael Green was also marked by certain short stories by Agatha Christie which appeal to the supernatural: “She published a collection of short stories entitled The last session, and the one which gave its title to the work is truly terrifying. Therefore, Mystery in Venice is certainly the transposition of Halloween crimebut the film is also deeply imbued with the novelist’s reflections on the supernatural.
2023 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.
Differences from the original novel
Agatha Christie’s novel takes place in an English manor house. Michael Green decided to transpose the story to Venice. “It became a more intimate story, with fewer suspects. Michael even took the liberty of imagining some subplots”specifies Kenneth Branagh. “He set most of the action in a haunted Venetian palace where he locked up the suspects early in the plot, during a frightening stormy night.”
The screenwriter develops: “we said to ourselves that we had the legitimacy to make a few changes, simply to tell a slightly different story from the book. There are several nods to Agatha Christie’s short story and it is she who structures the film. But we also wanted our reinterpretation to make the story a little more oppressive.”. Thus, while the short story takes place over several days (almost a week), the feature film extends over a single night.
James Prichard, executive producer of the film and great-grandson of Agatha Christie, validated these changes which, according to him, retained the tone and spirit of the book.
2023 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.
And 3!
After Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile, Kenneth Branagh once again adapts Agatha Christie for the cinema and officiates behind and in front of the camera in the role of detective Hercule Poirot. The British director and actor reunites with screenwriter Michael Green for the occasion.
It was on the set of Death on the Nile that the two men discussed their third project together. “During a lighting test, while I was leaning on the railing of the Karnak, I asked myself what we could do for our third film. And for some reason that I can’t explain, I I thought of a ghost story…and I remembered that Agatha Christie had written a short story called The Halloween Murder.”recalls Green.
Belfast
Kenneth Branagh reunites with Jamie Dornan and Jude Hill, whom he directed in his film Belfast. As in the latter, the two actors play a father and his son. “It was really wonderful to see them again. It’s no surprise that Jamie had a rather paternal relationship with Jude. They get along well, winnowing each other, but their relationship wasn’t the same. They soaked up the atmosphere of the film and both retained their strong English accents.”remembers the director.