Gilles Paquet-Brenner

Crooked House is a mystery movie based on Agatha Christie's book of the same title. I haven't read the book and so am unable to say how the two compare.

Charles Hayward, a private investigator, is approached by Sophia Leonides, a former lover of his, about investigating the death of her grandfather, a wealthy businessman named Aristide Leonides. Aristide died of a heart attack in the home he shared with his wife, his sons and their spouses, and his grandchildren. Sophia has reason to believe show more that someone else in the household killed her grandfather. If Charles can figure out who did it before Scotland Yard gets involved, the family might be able to avoid the embarrassment of a media circus.

Charles reluctantly takes the case and soon finds himself wading through the family's tangled web of festering resentments and secrets. Aristide's young new wife is an obvious suspect, but was she really the killer, as so many in the household seem to believe?

I saw the trailer for this a while back and really wanted to watch it. It looked slick, tense, and possibly a bit creepy. I checked the book out from the library, but for some reason I was never able to work up the willpower to read it.

Now that I've seen this, I wonder if I'd have figured out the killer as quickly if I'd started with the book instead.

The visuals were definitely slick and pretty. The story wasn't as suspenseful as the trailer made it look, but I enjoyed watching Charles talk to each of the family members and try to figure out what made them all tick and what their motives for killing Aristide could have been. I wasn't nearly as interested in Charles and Sophia's relationship, past or present. At least their past relationship made sense, though. I couldn't figure out why present-day Charles kept kissing or almost kissing Sophia when he knew she was probably keeping things from him and that one of those things might be that she murdered her own grandfather.

I correctly guessed the identity of the murderer fairly early on because, even in that family, their behavior and dialogue struck me as odd and off-putting. However, it was still only a guess until the second victim was shown on-screen - then I knew with 100% certainty who is was. The motive and opportunity were too clear. Again, I can't help but wonder if it would have taken me longer to figure things out if I had read this story first, rather than watched it. Some things are easier to hide in text than they are on-screen.

The ending was overly abrupt and a bit over-the-top (that explosion was enormous), but the whodunnit sequence was fabulous and chilling even though I'd already figured out who the murderer was. All in all, this was decent, despite its issues.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) show less

While journalist Julia Harmond is researching the Vel d’Hiv round up of Jewish families, done by the French police in1942 in Paris, she discovers a horrifying fact about her in-law''s family apartment. Sarah, the young daughter, Jewish family that lived there had locked her young brother into a closet, thinking to protect him and return later to free him. The family is held at the Vel d’Hiv for over a week without food and sanitary facilities, then transferred to a holding camp before show more transit to Auschwitz. Julia's personal problems in 2009 combined with the story of Sarah's urgent attempts to return and free her brother and it's impact on her later life captivate the viewer.
The acting in this film is superb.
This makes the 1942 situation in occupied France more understandable as the French, and the locals in most countries during WW II could be worse than the Germans in their treatment of the Jews. show less

Found the first 40 mins of this to be really dull. It got better at the end but surely there must be a better way to film this story? Very average.

Outstanding