Towards Zero (2007)

Good start, but then it gets ruined

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Newcomers to Agatha Christie are genuinely astonished at her breadth. She's more than Poirot and Marple. She's the Beresfords and Superintendent Battle, and lots of one-off mysteries, with freewheeling young people and with lots of humor; as if Wodehouse decided to drop Jeeves and Wooster and try to do mysteries.Personally, I like lots of the Superintendent Battle stories, like THE SECRET OF CHIMNEYS, THE SEVEN DIALS MYSTERY . . . and TOWARDS ZERO. Yes, this is a Battle book that Miss Marple is horning in on. Like like she horned in on Tommy and Tuppense in another story in this series. She's invading another sleuth's book.But a word on Geraldine McEwen's "Marple." Compare her to the earlier incarnation of "Miss Marple" (Joan Hickson). Christie writes about how Miss Marple occasionally twinkles. Hickson, a former "Carry On" and comedy actress, is a bit creepy and annoying. But then, at just the right moment, she twinkles, and you see what Christie meant. McEwen, another long-time stage actress with a some tv and film history, is all twinkle. And it's tiresome.Nevertheless, like all "Agatha Christie Marple" episodes with McEwen, "Towards Zero" is stylish. And unlike some others, it actually goes more or less by the book. Some episodes ("The Moving Finger") are fairly accurately Christie. Others change the lovers (wrongly in each case, to my mind); or the murderer ("The Sittaford Mystery"; or twist the murderer(s) characters to suit the new writers' political outlook ("Nemesis"). Miss Marple doesn't belong here, but otherwise they keep the story comparatively pure. And they keep a wonderful moment on the boat near the climax. It was funny in the book when Battle did it. I confess it comes as a great visual when Marple does it.Eight stars out of ten for style, and more or less accuracy; but Marple doesn't belong here. It's too bad they couldn't do a series of Christie without Poirot or Marple. They did a few of these when Francesca Annis, Cheryl Campbell and James Warwick were young. Christie is hardly Holy Writ and changes must be made from page to screen, but this twinkling Marple really sticks her nose where it doesn't belong.

A French adaptation of Agatha Christie's "Toward Zero" gets an excellent treatment at the hands of Pascal Thomas, a French director that appears to have been inspired by the original text. He has transferred the action to a gorgeous spot of Brittany. Since this is a rethinking of the Agatha Christie's novel, it was given a French flavor to go with the surroundings.At the center of the story is Camilla Tressilian, a wheelchair bound aristocratic lady with a great fortune. For the summer vacation she has invited her nephew Guillaume Neuville and his new wife, Caroline. She also has asked Aude, at the suggestion of Guillaume, a strange request, indeed. Marie-Adeline, who is Mrs. Tressilian's assistant, oversees all the arrangements. There is also a guest that comes from Vietnam, Thomas Rondeau, who has been away from France.The first formal dinner includes a former judge, Charles Trevoz, a man that knows a lot of secrets. At the table, Camilla asks the man about his most interesting case. Mr. Trevoz recalls a strange case that involved the supposedly accidental murder of a boy at the hands of another peer that was playing with a bow and arrow. One thing though, Mr. Trevoz does not reveal who the person was involved in the crime.That night, Mr. Trevoz is brought to the hotel by another guest. The only trouble is the elevator is out of order, meaning the older man has to climb four stories to his room. The following morning he is found dead. The news is too much for Camilla and her guests. Everyone is shocked when Mrs. Tressilian is found dead in her bed. She has been murdered by a hard blow to her head.The investigation that follows brings a vacationing inspector, Martin Bataille, to the scene. The situation is so mysterious that anyone of the people in the household, including the guests, could be the killers. Batailles follows unconventional methods to find out who did it. After some false movements the assassin, and his motives come to the open.Our main interest for watching the film was the presence of Danielle Darrieux playing Camilla. Ms. Darrieux, one of the most interesting personalities of the French cinema is a treasure to watch. She shows a regal presence that is a delight to watch, even though her part is not exactly the lead. Melvil Poupaud and a shrill Laura Smet, are Guillaume and Caroline. The enigmatic Aude is played by Chiara Mastroianni. Francois Morel is delightful as Bataille.Renan Polles, the cinematographer has worked with the director before. He gets in vivid details the beautiful Brittany scenery.

Pascal Thomas began his career with estimable French comedies; then, in the naughties,he began to adapt Agatha Christie,with "Mon Petit Doigt M'a Dit" feat Thomas and Tuppence Beresford (the names were Frenchified ) and he used again the husband-and-wife detectives in his latest effort "Le Crime Est Notre Affaire".I read "towards zero" a long time ago but I've got a vivid memory of it;once again the names were Frenchified : Nevile and Kay Strange (check the surname)became Guillaume and Caroline Neuville(sic);in the role of the wife ,Laura Smet (daughter of Johnny Hallyday and actress Nathalie Baye) overplays and turns the original character -an elegant mysterious woman- into a shrew :one really wonders why Guillaume fell for her.The book begins,if my memory serves me well,with a long chapter depicting the numerous characters :like in any Christie book,all MUST have a reason to commit a murder;the first fifteen minutes are faithful to Christie's spirit.So is the rest of the movie ,although it almost verges on parody and it has not the entertaining side of "Mon Petit Doigt".Thanks to Danielle Darrieux (an old lady who has been working since ... 1931!such a longevity is absolutely stunning and the actress is as good as when she used to make movies with Henry Decoin,Julien Duvivier,Max Ophuls or (yes!) Billy Wilder and Joseph Mankiewicz) who enjoys smoking opium ,this is worth a look ,at least on a rainy day.

In 2005 Pascal Thomas adapted an Agatha Christie story for the screen, signed up Catherine Frot and Andre Dussollier for the leads and enjoyed the minor success which prompted him to do it again ergo Zero Hour. In my case top-billed Danielle Darrieux - still acting in her ninety first year - was all the inducement I needed to get it up at the box office and the fact that Thomas has made another competent film is a bonus. If you like movies in which the actors wear timeless, well-cut clothes, move in a well-appointed château with a seascape thrown in for good measure and behave in obligatory mysterious ways so that an eventual murder has been long anticipated then you won't be disappointed. Chiara Mastroianni, looking more like her father every day is also on hand to remind us what we lost when her father died and if she bears only a passing resemblance to her mother that's not so important because mum Catherine Deneuve is still very much with us. It's doubtful if Chiara will ever achieve the iconic status of her parents but she gets acting jobs because casting directors and producers know she can deliver rather than because of her genes. An enjoyable romp.