A heavily adapted, well-known, canonical writer of popular fiction whose work you have probably seen, read, or felt the influence of if you are at all culturally literate. This Ordeal By Innocence isn’t “bad” it’s done well, and if you had no awareness of Agatha Christie’s oeuvre you’d probably say, “This is a good three-part mystery.” Because it is.īut it’s freakin’ Agatha Christie.
AGATHA CHRISTIE MOVIES ON NETFLIX SERIES
Now we come to an unexpected intersection of Ordeal by Innocence and Netflix’s Anne With An E: Neither series gives a bollocks about what the author of the book put on the pages of the book. Here’s Sarah Phelps, who scripted this adaptation, on fidelity to source: “I don’t give a bollocks (sic).” And guys, she really, really doesn’t. What they have done, they have done well. First you get a brief glimpse of Rachel’s body, for instance, and over time you see more and more of the moments leading up to her death. There’s a certain masterful use of temporal distortion, so that we see things out of order, then come back to the same scenes repeatedly-from different characters’ points of view, or with an expanded piece of the story.
The production is sleek, the photography oscillates between stately static shots and jarring POV sequences that nimbly suggest disturbances in the inner worlds of the characters. All this you know, if you’re a Christie enthusiast. Calgary, arrives to set the record straight, Jack has already died in prison and Leo Argyll is set to marry his former secretary…. Unfortunately, by the time his alibi, a scientist named Dr. Five adopted children and a housekeeper all look like potential perps, and indeed their son Jack is determined to be conclusively guilty, though he swears he isn’t. This adaptation stars the inimitable Bill Nighy as Leo Argyll, whose house is turned inside-out by the murder of his wife, Rachel (Anna Chancellor).
Agatha Christie purists need to know something upfront so they can be prepared for a potential “ordeal” of their own: “Agatha Christie’s Ordeal by Innocence,” as it’s been branded by Amazon, features a major plot departure from the book and from its previous adaptations on the large and small screen.