06/03/06 Agatha

Agatha (1979), directed by Michael Apted

watched w/ Leslie; VHS (borrowed from parents) @ home

Oh you clever British you. Not only did you have to go and produce arguably one of the most masterly mystery writers of modern time in Dame Agatha Christie, but you had to top yourselves by creating a fictional supposition of such savvy about her mysterious disapperance in 1926. A veritable "what if?" is posed by director Michael Apted, trying to clue in on the who/what/where/when/and ultimately why of Christie's temporary vanishing act. I have to say, having absolutely no clue myself that this ever happened in real life, it made the movie appealing in the storyline of intrigue. Playing on what Christie's life work was all about anyway (murder & mystery), we learn through both her eyes and her American suitor Wally Stanton (Dustin Hoffman, always great) of her interesting life. While going through a difficult marriage to a stiff colonel (Timothy Dalton), Christie (Vanessa Redgrave) fakes her own death, takes up under a pseudonym at a resort spa/hotel, begins a flirtatious affair with Stanton, works vigorously on novel ideas, and plots a twisted revenge on her cheating husband's lover. Oh, how cheeky! What plays throughout the film to me, was a nagging sense that I was merely watching a PBS-run of some old sappy British mini-series (not much unlike many of Christie's novels' television treatments...wow, paradoxical). However, the ending is fun in its twists and turns...and Hoffman is brilliant as the determined American in an otherwise very British whodunit.

3 out of 5 stars