Das Geheimnis der Agatha Christie

Until I saw "Agatha", I had never even heard of the story of Agatha Christie disappearing - or hiding - in 1926. The movie offers a possibility of what might have happened, portraying the author (Vanessa Redgrave) secretly checking into a health spa under a false name, while detective Wally Stanton (Dustin Hoffman) investigates.

I will admit that this movie is nothing special. If anything, it's sort of just a way to pass time. But it is interesting not only learning about this part of history, but seeing this speculation of what might have happened (the movie reminds us that this is only speculation). The only other cast member whom I recognized was Timothy Dalton as Agatha's husband Archibald. Not a masterpiece by any stretch, but worth seeing nevertheless.

Well photographed, carefully edited film, swimming in supposition. Almost quietly performed. Overall sense of loss and heartache gives further readings into Christie's books a tinged sense of sadness. Mannered but sympathetic acting by the 2 strong leads, balance well off the 2 sort of "villians": the snobby mistress and the caddish husband, played with icy detachment by the future and all too brief James Bond. The stunning visuals look especially nice on a large screen.

Fie on all adulterers!!!! Vanessa makes you feel her pain as she is rejected by her handsome cold husband and then subjected to his lies about his new mistress. We follow her thought processes, so good is her acting, as she mulls over suicide and the various ways it may be accomplished. Her masochistic love for this man is hard to believe, unless you've been caught up in the spell of a @#$$^$*%()_ , know what I mean? She certainly doesn't need him, financially.

Anyway, Dustin Hoffman comes along playing a hard-eyed, confident newspaper man, quite against type. He meets the wealthy owner of the paper he's stringing for eye to eye with great firmness. The way he brings another reporter into some high faluting meeting place over the snobbish insults of the wait-staff is a beautiful and subtle thing to watch.

I of course enjoyed all the English scenery at Bath, England at the old hotel there meant for folks in the old days to take different 'cures'. Of course, we're talking the idle rich here, and it was rather fascinating since we have our own Warm Springs, also used for similar type cures during the 30s and 40s.

Buy the movie for your big screen TV, and back it up with some Merchant Ivory for a great evening of hoighty-toighty England.

It's a famous real life case. Agatha Christie disappeared for 11 days in December 1926. For some, she never explained it convincingly and this is a fictional account of those days. Col. Archibald Christie (Timothy Dalton) asks his wife Agatha Christie (Vanessa Redgrave) for a divorce so that he can marry his secretary Nancy Neele. Agatha is under tremendous stress and desperate to keep her husband. When American reporter Wally Stanton (Dustin Hoffman) arrives at her doors for a scheduled interview, the colonel sends him away. Agatha's abandoned car is later found and the search is on.

The fictionalization gives the scriptwriter a blank slate. It could have gone a million different ways from the outlandish to the poignant. This doesn't do much of anything and that is the most disappointing aspect. I don't care about Stanton or the Colonel or the search. I would love to follow only Agatha but she just spends her time at a spa. It's probably the least intriguing destination although it's fun to have her do research during her stay. I don't find her budding relationship with Stanton based on mutual lies that compelling. Despite the great acting power available, it's not until well into the second half before something interesting happens.

Michael Apted created a truly beautiful movie in this period piece. Watching it was an exercise in restraint, beauty, and remarkable taste, each frame seemingly more beautiful than the next. Again, Ms. Redgrave delivers a nuanced but powerful portrayal of this equally powerful mystery writer, who's real life disappearance was thoughtfully imagined in this thought-provoking film. Perhaps the choice of Dustin Hoffman was a bit of a stretch, when his physical height often seemed a little incongruous combined with the extreme height of the statuesque Redgrave, especially during the single love scene. That said, Hoffman's performance was more than up for the task, revealing a degree of stoic steadfastness and street smarts that makes the entire enterprise move along quite well, in spite of its generally slower pace, which English films generally employ to good effect. Never having heard of or seen this film before, catching it on TCM was an interesting and captivating delight.