Sunday, August 15, 2010

Poirot "Lord Edwige Dies" #7.2 (2000) (TV)

An unforgivable cheat, 30 April 2007

Going into a plot summary is a bit tricky with one of these Poirot mysteries. It's difficult to do so without giving away too much. It's hard to know where to stop. I'll just say that in typical Agatha Christie style, there is no shortage of suspects, everyone has a motive, and the victim was so nasty that he almost deserved what he got. Sound familiar?

If it weren't for one key incident in the movie, I would be happy extolling all of the positive aspects of Lord Edwige Dies. I'm sure I would mention the authentic looking sets (at least, authentic to my untrained eye), the attention to detail, the acting, the score, and all of the other aspects that make each and every Poirot installment I've seen special. I'm also sure that I would go out of my way to mention Helen Grace who affected me much in the same manner she did Poirot. And, I'm sure there are other positives I would not doubt list. But, because of an unforgivable flaw, I cannot be positive while writing this. If you don't want to read possible SPOILERS, please skip the rest of this review.

* SPOILER WARNING * Lord Edwige Dies contains one of the biggest cheats I've ever seen. The whole solution to the mystery revolves around Jane Wilkinson being in two places at the same time. It's not physically possible. So, in the solution to the mystery, we see that Jane asked a friend gifted in impersonations to "play" her at a dinner party as part of a joke. The other guests hardly know her so the actress should be able to pull it off. I'm okay with this, but the director commits an unforgivable cheat with the dinner party scene. The Jane Wilkinson we see as an audience at the dinner part is the real Jane Wilkinson. It's not the impostor. Trust me, I went back just to make sure. I cannot believe any director would have thought he could get away with something like this. * END SPOILER *

6/10

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