Customer Reviews

Agatha [VHS]

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In 1926 acclaimed English mystery writer Agatha Christie disappeared after her car was found in the countryside. She later reappeared at the Harrogate Spa claiming "amnesia" and unable to explain what had taken place. The screenplay by Kathleen Tynan and Arthur Hopcraft constructs a solution to Christie's real life mystery by suggesting that she followed her husband's mistress to Harrogate Spa. What is intriguing about this idea is the way the treatment has Christie use the skills she presumably used to create her novels, to investigate the potentially lethal electrical apparatus used at the Spa as slimming devices. However outweighing the thriller elements of the film is the romantic approach by director Michael Apted, represented by the casting of Vanessa Redgrave as Christie, Dustin Hoffman as an American journalist following her, the lighting by Vittorio Storaro and the production design by Shirley Russell. Redgrave encapsulates the shy genius Christie who hides in her clothes and her partnership with the dandy played by Hoffman is both the coming together of two oddballs, and the excitement of seeing two great actors complement each other. Hoffman is as aware that Redgrave is Christie though she uses a false name as much as Redgrave is as aware of his awareness. Apted uses this double act of voyeurism of Hoffman spying on Redgrave and Redgrave's Christie spying on her husband's mistress as a demonstration of the public's fascination with celebrity, even celebrity as unwilling as Christie is - at a launch of her book at the film's opening, Christie can barely speak to say thank you for the attention. Redgrave and Hoffman have a delicious moment when she stoops to kiss him in profile, and Redgrave's tear as she half sings They Didn't Believe Me is memorable. Also good are Timothy Dalton as Mr Christie - a role drenched in irony given Dalton's then real life relationship with Redgrave - and Australian actress Helen Morse, radiant as someone who befriends Redgrave at the Spa. As Pauline Kael points out in the review in her collection, When the Lights Go Down, there can be no substance to the mystery theory since it is known Christie was found and her days accounted for - therefore she cannot be seen to harm anyone and particularly not herself. The plot then is about a death scheme that is foiled. And though we know Christie will divorce the husband she returns to, giving him what he wanted all along, and we know that she will not rush to Hoffman because his role is fictional, we question Redgrave's final gift to Hoffman because there is no way it can be used other than as a personal rememberance. Perhaps, as Kael, suggested it would make more sense if Hoffman's role were more the yellow journalist or envious writer, but then that would be a different movie. As it is, it appears merely the parting gesture of people that we don't want to see part.

As an Agatha Christie fan, I was very curious when I happened upon this video recently. As Christie always seems so cool, collected and in control as the voice behind her mysteries, I assumed that that was how she was in real life. Thus as I read the video description and learned that she was a painfully shy woman who clung to her husband for support, I was very interested in learning more.

What made this film even more intriguing is that in writing a screenplay about Christie, the minds behind this film did so playfully. They focused on an 11 day period when Christie disappeared, and set the whole thing up as a mystery plot...in classic Agatha style...

Or so they thought. The mystery part of this movie left no real mystery to solve. The "surprise twist" at the end was a minor twist that didn't really fulfill expectations. Otherwise, everything was painstakingly clear.

If you can leave aside the whole mystery story as a bold but ultimately doomed attempt (doomed simply by the confines of reality), the rest of the story did hold its own. The plot moved slowly, dialog was sometimes hard to understand and minor characters were hard to keep track of...all of which are typical of older films. However, the characters were engaging and the plot kept things moving along.

The build-up of the relationship between Christie and Apted is fully believable, except they don't get together in the end. This is not a "Roman Holiday" situation where they can't because of circumstances. Rather, it is because Apted is fictional and therefore not true to Christie's real life story. Thus, you are left emotionally baffled.

All that said, the greatest value I personally received from the film was a MUCH BETTER understanding of Christie herself and also of England in the 1920's. Additionally, I enjoyed Hoffman's character thoroughly. He really shone in his role.

The title of this English movie refers to one of the world's most famous writer, Agatha Christie, who, in 1926, left her home without warning and created a public speculation about her fate. The director, Michael Apted, gives us a great amount of solemnity, using it to balance with the most trivial of human behaviors. Dustin Hoffman is rather theatrical in his portrayal of a famous journalist that falls in love with the fragile and dependent writer and Vanessa Redgrave captures perfectly the loss and solitude of the character. And suddenly, when the movie itself was imbued in its quietness, becomes something close to a thriller, a race against time, and its cleverness never compensates the unexpected loss. But it is a beautiful film, carefully constructed and with some good dialogue. Victorio Storaro's cinematography is excellent as usual and Timothy Dalton probably gives his finest performance as a rigid and paternal husband who doesn't allow his wife to act as one.

I want to counter one review here. I had seen this movie when it first came out. It DID NOT do well in the box office, BUT! This movie was beautifully filmed with excellent focus adjustments that mirrored the "mystery" that never took place, but could have. I also want to say that if anyone "falls asleep" at the beautiful music of Johnny Mandel, especially the closing title song "Close Enough for Love" then they think 50 cent is a gospel singer (By the way it has been recorded by more great singers and jazz artists than almost any song of Mandel's since the Shadow of Your Smile). This is first rate fiction and while Hoffman's character is almost plastic in its portrayal, Redgrave's and Dalton's is first rate. This one will disappear into obscurity, evidenced by its lack of DVD availablility.I am afraid, like so many movies that we are now trying to pull from the celluliod graveyard, it will be re-discovered way too late. You need to grab this one and remember the choice is yours a "cigarette or a kiss."

This is one of the most exquisite movie of a "what could have happened" mystery. The point has a great cast, superb photography, the hauntingly beautiful music of Johnny Mandel (The Shadow of your Smile from the Sandpiper) and a very rare performace by Hoffman, playing a loving character. While fictional, the principles and the locations and certain events are real. It keeps you guessing and like Christie's books, has a surprise ending..one that did happen!
A must buy, even if it is VHS..get it!
I watch it numerous times a year, because it is so richly done.

People are all over the place in rating this film (for a myriad of reasons) so I'll try to pin that down first. While the film was beautifully produced, bulging with a fine cast, it did not do all that well when it was released. Someone mentioned this reality already and they are correct in their facts on that point. I first saw "Agatha" either on HBO or Cinemax in the early days of those cable premium channels. In the end, it IS a really good film with an interesting story to relate.

In 1926, famed mystery writer Agatha Christie really DID disappear for better than a week. In real life, (and in the movie), she was experiencing major domestic problems, prior to her divorce from Colonel Christie, and it's my belief that this is the simple basis for her disappearance; however, numerous conspiracy theories have blossomed and psychologists' opinions of the matter have spurred on this sort of alternative scenario thinking. Certain conspiracy accounts may in fact be true, or possibly not -- I seriously doubt that we'll ever know all the facts. Christie later said that she couldn't account for the lost time and some psychologists have stated that she was in a "fugue state" for the period in question.

In any case, the movie is essentially all about what happened to Christie for those 11 mysterious days and nights. The movie provides probably the most popular account of that turbulent window of time in Christie's life.

A chief feature of the movie focuses on an American reporter (played by Dustin Hoffman) who tracks Christie down at a health resort. That 'location' takes up 2/3 of the film.

I'm astounded that this film is apparently not yet available on DVD and when it is finally released on disc, I HOPE that it's conveyed in letterbox format which would greatly enhance the already super cinematography. It's a fine film, albeit it probably has a limited interested viewership. Any Christie fan would give it 5 stars.

So, if you're interested in topics such as the Lindbergh baby kidnapping, and/or the loss of Amelia Earhart over the Pacific, then you'll probably much savour this movie too. I liked it a lot.

Wonderfully clever, and extremely well acted by Dustin Hoffman and Vanessa
Redgrave.

It's the imaginary tale of what happened during a real-life never
explained 11 day disappearance of mystery writer Agatha Christie.

Fun, smart, and quite touching, with gorgeous photography by Vittorio
Stoaro. Hoffman and Redgrave make a wonderful, quirky pair of almost
lovers.

Finally available on DVD as part of the WB made to order line. So it's
pricey, with no extras, and burned to DVD-R, so it may likely last less
long than a regular DVD. But still, it's a terrific film, well worth
picking up.

The author incorporated a great deal of research into this brilliant plot. I would compare the writing style to M.Night Shyamalan.I had read Agatha Christie's autobiography, so I had the advantage of knowing why she would have been so distraught that she would dissappear for two weeks.The producer used a lot up close up shots to draw you into Agatha's mindset.And you are sure you figured out what she is up to, but have you?
The performances are top notch by all three of the the main characters and I sat on the edge of the seat during the whole movie. I highly recommend this movie and if it turns out that you really like it as much as I do, then be sure and see "USUAL SUSPECTS" featuring Kevin Spacey.

Excellent what if, who dunnit. as to the great writers missing days during the twenties. Her dissapearence sent off a nationwide search of England. Needs to be released in DVD format.

Of all the mysteries written by Agatha Christie, none surpasses the real-life one in which she was involved. In 1926, just after the publication of her novel, THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD, the newly-famous author walked out of her life and disappeared, and the search for her created worldwide headlines. She was found 11 days later, in a health spa on the other side of England, registered under an assumed name--the name of her husband's mistress. She never explained the incident, not even in her eventual autobiography. British author Kathleen Tynan published the book, AGATHA, shortly after Christie's death in 1976, and in 1979 director Michael Apted (7-UP, GORKY PARK, GORILLAS IN THE MIST) brought the film version to the screen.

Though we'll never really know the truth behind those 11 days in 1926, this speculative drama offers one possible explanation, and it's fascinating. Vanessa Redgrave is superb in the title role of the troubled, publicity-shy genius, and Dustin Hoffman--cast against type--offers an interesting portrait of the brash, self-promoting American journalist who tracked her down when even Scotland Yard was at a loss. Needless to say, these two polar opposites find themselves attracted to each other. The period details are vividly realized, the tentative romance between the two leads is touching, and the film creates an aura of glamorous suspense not unlike Christie's own stories. Though not a great film, this is a good one, and a rare opportunity to see two of our finest actors together. A must for fans of Agatha Christie.