Death on the Nile

Annotation for KRRR! 2022

After five years and the postponement of premieres due to the pandemic, the release in cinemas after Murder on the Orient Express has seen another adaptation of the novel by Agatha Christie, directed by Kenneth Branagh, who once again played the main character of the legendary Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. This time, Branagh has adapted the novel that the author described as one of her favorites – Death on the Nile.

Newlyweds Linnet and Simon Doyle are going on a honeymoon to Egypt. Instead of peace and relaxation, however, they live in fear, because they are constantly pursued by Simon's ex-fiancée Jacqueline de Bellefort. When they board a steamer sailing on the Nile River in an attempt to escape from Jacqueline, it seems that the danger has been averted. Moreover, the famous Poirot is on the steamer, who promises Linnet to keep an eye on them. But tragedy is approaching…

Exotic Egypt, the pyramids of Giza, the temple of Abu Simbel, golden sand and scorching sun. It is no wonder that Death on the Nile is not only one of the most famous “Poirot novels”, but also has seen popular adaptations, which is true for both the 1978 feature film with Peter Ustinov and the almost two-hour television version with David Suchet. But Kenneth Branagh manages to surprise by making his latest adaptation both classic and innovative.

In the first part of the book, Christie carefully and slowly creates a network of interconnected relationships between a large number of diverse characters, creating a motive for each, so that in the second part she can constantly and frantically transfer the reader’s suspicions from character to character. In contrast, Branagh’s version not only reduced or connected the number of characters, but also changed their characteristics. Morbid desire, jealousy and especially love come to the fore, which is also connected to the personal concept of Poirot himself, whose past is thematically intertwined with the present.

It cannot be forgotten that Death on the Nile is shot on seventy-millimeter film material. Especially on the big screen, both the impressive work with symmetries and colors and the contrast between the breathtaking large units of exotic Egypt and the enclosed spaces of a luxury steamship, in which the tension grows, stand out.

Jan Schneider