Agatha and the Curse
of Ishtar
Director: Sam Yates
Year: 2019
Rating: 6.5
Well, I have to admit I didn't really have to see Agatha Christie getting
it on. Not in this film, not ever. Sort of like seeing your parents having
sex. I expect. This is the second film produced by Darlow Smithson Productions
for British television that purports to tell a missing story in the life
of Agatha Christie. The first one was Agatha and the Truth of Murder (2018)
in which the true life disappearance of Christie for 10 days is explained.
She solves a real life murder of course. There is I see another one planned
for release in 2020. She is back though with a different actress playing
her - an older actress and less attractive that is closer to real life.
After her disappearance (no explanation was ever given) and then divorce,
Christie needed to get away from all the publicity and depression and so
went off to Iraq in 1928 at a friend's invitation to stay with them at an
archeological dig in Iraq. That is the premise behind this film that then
veers wildly away from fact to have Agatha get caught up in a few murders
and be romanced by a young archeologist named Max Mallowan. There is loads
of skullduggery going on at the dig - stolen artifacts, a dying man talking
about the Curse of Ishtar, a hanged monkey, secret affairs and lots of very
catty talk. Funny, I worked on an archeological dig one summer and we had
none of that. But that was in England where nothing improper ever happens.
The mystery is actually very solid - something Christie could have written
- the big manor styled house, a house full of suspects and the final declamation
with the remaining people around a table. By that time I had it figured out
but there were a lot fewer suspects to choose from! Christie is well played
by Lindsey Marshall (lots of TV) and Max by Jonah Hauer-King. As in real
life he is much younger than Christie - by 12 years - but that didn't stop
them from being married for 46 years until her death. Christie was to fall
in love with archeology as well as her husband and went on his digs with
him - perhaps to keep an eye on him after the first failed marriage - and
she was to set a few books in the Middle East. If you are a Christie fan,
this is an enjoyable stop along the way. There seems to be a never-ending
need for all things Christie these days.
