Crooked House
Regie:
Gilles Paquet-BrennerScenario:
Julian FellowesCamera:
Sebastian WinterøMuziek:
Hugo de ChaireActeurs:
Max Irons, Glenn Close, Gillian Anderson, Christina Hendricks, Honor Kneafsey, Terence Stamp, Julian Sands, Stefanie Martini, Roger Ashton-Griffiths (meer)Streaming (1)
Samenvattingen(1)
In het landhuis van de schatrijke familie Leonides wordt de patriarch en eigenaar van het familiefortuin onder verdachte omstandigheden dood aangetroffen. Zijn beeldschone kleindochter Sophia roept de hulp in van haar voormalige minnaar, de privé detective Charles Hayworth. Er zijn verdachten te over: Drie generaties van de Leonides dynastie wonen op het weeldige landgoed in een giftige atmosfeer vol bitterheid en jaloezie. En met het ongekende fortuin ligt het motief voor de hand. Maar niets is wat het lijkt. In de klassieke stijl van Agatha Christie volgen gruwelijke ontdekkingen en onverwachte wendingen elkaar in hoog tempo op. Aan Hayworth de taak om de waarheid te achterhalen… (Three Lines Pictures)
(meer)Recensie (6)
Agatha Christie considered Crooked House (1949) to be her favorite novel. Perhaps because she defended the ending against the publishers' assumptions. In any case, the material is also interesting for the audience because the filmmakers don't use it much. Here we have the opportunity to encounter a relatively new and interesting substance; moreover, the cast is dominated by Glenn Close and Gillian Anderson outside their usual mannerisms. And while I prefer the pre-war Christie in many ways, I certainly don't consider this a loss. Yet if only the filmmakers could have stuck more to the aesthetics of the 40s, given that the 50s are in fact somewhat different.
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For my taste, from a certain point onwards, the perpetrator is too blatantly pointed at, which is something that would not happen to even the most ordinary TV Poirot. The cast is great, but what good is it in the end if the characters are kind of forgotten and the ending doesn't satisfy the viewer?
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Taking into account the final and very shocking reveal and the plethora of exceedingly wacky, twisted and certainly very well portrayed characters in the plot, it is no wonder that Crooked House was the favourite book of the author herself, Agatha Christie. I'll definitely have to find the time to read that book. As far as the film adaptation is concerned, it has more than one big name actor – I’d like to highlight the performances of Glenn Close and Terence Stamp. On the other hand, I didn't find Max Irons' performance in the lead role to be very good. Compared to the TV movies with Poirot and Miss Marple, Crooked House is noticeably longer, so some sequences felt too stretched out. It's really a shame that it's a pretty boring affair in the end (except for the reveal), because the potential was definitely there.
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I was really looking forward to this film but was somewhat disappointed with the result. It wasn't bad, I just expect more of a film adaptation of a book by Agatha Christie. The story seemed rather mediocre. Only the ending stood out - it was excellent. Concerning the acting performances, a special mention goes to Christina Hendricks and Glenn Close who entertained me the most.
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This film has quite a large cast of interesting actors, which led to one of the least interesting Agatha Christie adaptations ever made. It's a bit sad, but even though the film tries to achieve some atmosphere here and there, it just doesn't work and it's not worth it. The plot may have been good in the book, but it wasn't developed well here.
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The unexpected denouement of an intricate criminal case says a lot about why Agatha Christie was, and still remains, the uncrowned queen of crime fiction. In addition, Crooked House has a stellar cast, led by Glenn Close and Gillian Anderson. It's just a shame that the plot drags on and on, which doesn't help the otherwise well-crafted atmosphere of growing tension and suspicion in the country estate. (65%)
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