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Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials Everything is running out of time. Clocks are ticking everywhere: on the mantelpiece, in pockets, and most ominously, seven men surrounding a handsome corpse. It’s a theme that lingers throughout this adaptation Christie1929 novel: A sense that something precious is slipping away, that the Roaring Twenties won’t last forever.
The body is discovered the morning after a lavish country house party and belongs to Gerry Wade (Corey Milchrist), the suitor of Lady Eileen “Bundle” Brent (Mia McKenna-Bruce). Police called it an accident. She called it murder. What follows is fun and lighthearted, yet deceptively savvy.
Fifty years after Christie’s death, broadchurch creator Chris Chibnall This early work is more energetic than her Poirot mysteries. Unlike another mustachioed drawing-room detective novel, her first foray into literary espionage is full of wit and intrigue. Unlike the BBC, which has recently had a habit of revamping Christie’s plots – starting with the replacement of the killer in 2018 The test of innocence to character swap murder is easy 2023 – In response to considerable criticism, Chibnall resisted the urge to meddle too much with the source material.
It works – especially if you’ve exhausted Rian Johnson’s methods Draw the knife movie, but still longing for another Netflix puzzle game. The three-part series follows a formula familiar to Christie fans, feeling light and grounded amid thrills and knowing laughs. Director Chris Sweeney plays the Jazz Age energy with aplomb, dressing everything up in shimmering silks and sequined glamour. In his brilliant British thriller touristshe started from Danielle McDonaldboth serious and embarrassing.
If further proof of the director’s knack for drawing nuanced work from young actresses was needed, McKenna-Bruce — who won a BAFTA for her role in the 2023 film how to have sex– does provide this. The script establishes the impetus of Bondel’s investigation, but her caffeinated determination comes across more clearly in her performance. She refuses to be marginalized. As her investigation escalates from domestic tragedy to full-blown conspiracy—Foreign Office secrets, international espionage, and more—she refuses to accept convenient explanations.
Also great is Edward Bluemel, who recently appeared on stage with his predecessor. sex education supporting role Nuti Gatwa exist Born with teeth. Here, he plays town villain Jimmy Thesiger, exuding a sense of crude ambiguity while Helena Bonham Carter As Mrs Caterham, she’s great in her quirkiness – which of course she is, delivering such wisdom as “Never thank a staff member. Where does it end?”
Completing this coterie of much-loved British faces are Martin FreemanThe mustached, seemingly unflappable character is Scotland Yard Sergeant Battle, who finds himself both helping and hindering Bondel’s quest for the truth.
Although the plot is a bit draggy in some places, seven turntables Often funny, full of self-awareness and never falling into smugness. The camera captures details—from gorgeous country manor interiors to London’s smoky nightclubs—to create a world that is both unsettling and seductive.
Christie’s adaptation is difficult to do well. Kenneth Branagh’s latest Poirot effort (death on the nile, Haunted Venice) feels overwrought and self-righteous. Even better is Hugh Laurie’s agility Why didn’t they ask Evans? (2022) deftly incorporates the book’s 1930s setting and deftly lays out a labyrinthine plot. The gold standard remains Sidney Lumet’s 1974 Murder on the Orient Expresswhich understands that Christie’s clockwork storytelling works best when taken seriously.
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seven turntables Sit comfortably on the upper level. It succeeds in the difficult trick of making something feel both nimble and reassuringly familiar – a time-jump that glides through gilded countryside heaps and shadowy streets. Perfect escapism, then, in this bleakest of months: cleverly timed, perfectly wound, deadly.